BRISTOL Academy Flyers dropped down to fifth after a pair of losses in their weekend away trip to the North East of England.
Saturday's game in Teesside was in the balance during the first half with Mohawks taking the opening quarter 23-18 and Bristol hitting back to lead 42-39 at the half.
The key run for Tees Valley came late in the third quarter, when they enjoyed a 14-0 run, thanks mainly to seven turnovers by Bristol to establish a seven-point lead going into the final quarter.
Mohawks pushed out their lead to as many as 14 points in the final quarter as Bristol never really threatened to turn the score around. Turnovers were the key stat for Flyers as they gave up the ball 31 times in comparison to Mohawks' 13.
Enrique Garcia had a 20-point, ten-rebound double-double for the Flyers.
Tees Valley coach, Steve Butler said: "Every time you play Bristol you know you are going to have to be at your best to win. Bristol did have some players missing through injury and it shows what strength in depth they have in their squad to challenge us right until the end, but we controlled the final minutes well."
The following day, Bristol completed a miserable weekend with a 66-55 loss at Team Northumbria.
Flyers led by seven at the halfway stage, but fell away in the second half as they only scored 21 points after the break.
Garcia again had a big game for the Flyers with 22 points, but it did not prove enough as the Bristol side returned home from their trip to the North East with two league losses that have hit hard their hopes for a league title.
Flyers coach Andreas Kapoulas believes his team will bounce back.
He said: "It was a tough weekend for us, no doubt about that. Playing without Treasure, who is out for the season, and McLaughlin-Williams, who we are waiting on MRI scan results, means that rotations have changed.
"Our team did a great job adjusting to these two key absences and proved that we can still compete at a high level. We were unable to close out both games this weekend, Saturday due to turnovers and Sunday due to missing shots, but I think we have learned a lot about ourselves and we are ready to compete with any of the top teams in the league."
Bristol will need to bounce back quickly as tonight the Flyers face the Reading Rockets at the SGS WISE campus in the National Cup semi-final (8pm).
Flyers, who won the National Cup in 2010 and have been in every Cup Final since then, will be hoping to get to their fourth consecutive final.
The two teams have already met twice this season, once in the Trophy and once in the league. Reading, who are undefeated in the league, came out on top on both occasions and Flyers coach is aware of the challenge that his team has ahead of the game tonight:
He said: 'Reading are certainly the team to beat at the moment. They are playing good basketball and are solid defensively.
"Their preparation is always very good and given the fact that they have beaten us twice on our home court, they come to this game as the strong favourites. From our point of view, we are still dealing with our injuries but we will not focus on that. The National Cup is the first major National title that we have won and as such it means a lot to us. We will work hard as a team and we will do our best for a place in the final."
The coach added: "It will be a great evening of basketball as two of the best basketball programmes in the Country go head to head for a place in a Final. I would highly recommend it to all sport spectators in Bristol and surrounding area.'
On Saturday, the Flyers will return to league action at the SGS WISE campus against the Brixton Topcats (7pm).
The London side have not had a good start to the season, but are always competitive.
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