Five D1M games filled Saturday, highlighted by a huge win for Hemel on the road against title rivals Derby, before another dose of National Cup contests yesterday.
Six of the eight Round of 16 ties are now in the books as the field continues to narrow towards January's Finals, with holders Milton Keynes keeping their defence alive with a commanding 91-54 victory over Essex Rebels.
We take a look back at all the weekend's match-ups below, with links to live stats at the bottom of the page.
Hemel staked their largest claim yet to the tag of title favourites as they remained unbeaten at Derby's expense, winning 91-74.
Seeing off one of their biggest rivals for top spot on the road has left Storm two games clear at D1M's summit, with Saturday's victory coming courtesy of a 27-19 opening quarter plus 28 points from in-form Matt Ellis.
The Canadian shot 68% from the floor across 16 attempts and that efficiency spread across the Hemel roster as they went an impressive 47% throughout the contest.
That led to strong outings from the likes of Tra'Michael Moton (20pts, 5reb) and Sam Newman (14ast), with Darien Nelson-Henry nearing a double-double (9pts, 9reb) in just over 15 minutes of action.
Derby welcomed back Malcolm Smith but his recent injury layoff led to a rusty performance (5pts, 1/7 FG), leaving Leighton Elliott-Sewell (20pts, 8reb) and Jonas Dieterich (18pts, 4reb) to pick up the slack for the hosts.
With Hemel's unbeaten start to the season continuing to stretch on towards the mid-season break, all eyes are now on who could stop their winning run, or if they'll be able to stage a repeat of their unbeaten 2022/23 campaign.
Storm now head back home for a date with City of Birmingham Rockets next weekend, whilst Derby need to pick themselves up and go again away to Milton Keynes.
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Loughborough Riders (5-3) came through their road trip to City of Birmingham Rockets (5-4), grabbing a narrow 86-81 victory thanks to a stunning 36-point outing from former Player of the Week Victor Ndoukou.
Another player in top form this weekend was Bristol's Vilmantas Dilys, who enjoyed a 30-point, 10-rebound double-double as Bristol Hurricanes (5-3) downed Worthing Thunder (2-6) 105-88.
Newcastle Knights (3-5) picked up their third win of the season with a hard-fought 94-89 road W against Thames Valley Cavaliers (4-4).
Despite multiple fourth-quarter lead changes it would be the visitors who would cling on, with former Worthing man Hafeez Abdul dropping 37 points on his Knights' debut alongside Ronald Blain's 28/11 double-double.
Bradford Dragons (0-8) are beginning to look at real danger at the foot of the standings as they fell to their latest defeat, an 83-73 L against Essex Rebels (4-4).
Emmanuel Kanwei (21pts, 7reb) led the way for the Rebels, cancelling out a 16-point, 11-board double-double from Bradford's Rihard Sulcs.
There were some big results in the latest batch of NBL National Cup ties, starting with an upset for previous winners Team Solent Kestrels as they beat D1's Thames Valley Cavaliers 80-73.
Now residing in D2M, Solent has no problem against top-flight TVC, jumping out to a 29-18 first quarter lead behind Isa Brandon's 24 points.
TVC did fight back to steal the lead back in the third quarter, though the hosts regrouped, moved ahead once again and then stayed out of sight until the buzzer to book their spot in the quarter-finals.
Holders Milton Keynes Breakers are also through, they beat Essex Rebels 91-54. Holding the D1M runners up to just 17 second half points, MK ran away with the contest from there as Nate Robinson enjoyed a team-high 17 points.
NBL2 North side Manchester Magic were no match for Newcastle Knights as they went down 103-52, with City of Birmingham Rockets inflicting a similarly lopsided score line on Bristol Hurricanes as they ran out 100-47 winners in the West Midlands.
Hemel Storm needed every bit of Matt Ellis' 44 points to see off London Elite, with the D2 side looking to stage an upset before falling to a narrow 107-94 loss despite 35 points from former Storm man Romario Spence.
Derby Trailblazers took the Midlands clash against Loughborough Riders, seeing off a late fightback to win 85-83.
Derby entered the final frame leading 73-64 but were made to sweat as the Riders came back into the game behind 22 points from Michael Joiner.
A joint effort from DTB would get them over the line in the end, with Malcolm Smith (16pts) leading five players who would core nine or more.
That just leaves NBL2 South outfit Westminster Warriors to host Reading Rockets on Tuesday, and Nottingham Hoods to take on Bradford Dragons next Sunday (08/12) to complete the quarter-finalists.
6:30pm: Thames Valley Cavaliers 89-94 Newcastle Knights - LIVE STATS
6:30pm: Essex Rebels 83-73 Bradford Dragons - LIVE STATS
7:30pm: Derby Trailblazers 74-91 Hemel Storm - LIVE STATS
7:30pm: City of Birmingham Rockets 81-86 Loughborough Riders - LIVE STATS
7:30pm: Worthing Thunder 88-105 Bristol Hurricanes - LIVE STATS
Team Solent Kestrels 80-73 Thames Valley Cavaliers - LIVE STATS / LIVE STREAM
Essex Rebels 54-91 Milton Keynes Breakers - LIVE STATS
London Elite 94-107 Hemel Storm
Loughborough Riders 83-85 Derby Trailblazers - LIVE STATS / LIVE STREAM
City of Birmingham Rockets 100-47 Bristol Hurricanes - LIVE STATS
Manchester Magic 52-103 Newcastle Knights - LIVE STATS
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Main image credit - Nicola C Creative
