Nick Nurse wants to revive the spirit of his team's European adventures in a bid to bring more silverware to Brighton.

Bears clinched a semi-final against Chester in the BBL play-offs with a 91-83 win over Milton Keynes Lions at the Brighton Centre on Saturday.

They now face a two-week break before finals weekend at the NIA in Birmingham and coach Nurse hopes to fill it with a continental jaunt.

He was today investigating the possibility of taking up invitations to travel to Latvia for a couple of games next weekend.

Bears played their best basketball of the season domestically at the same time as their exciting ULEB Cup run in mid-winter and their coach reckons a trip abroad would enhance their chances of adding a second major prize to the BBL title trophy.

He said: "Going to Europe is a strong possibility.

"I'd like to watch us raise our intensity, get guarded, get fouled, play against bigger teams and stretch ourselves in transition defence, rebounding-wise and execution-wise.

"Maybe that would carry over into the play-offs.

"The other thing is, we are trying to build ourselves into a European team and the more games we can get on the continent the better."

Latvia may not sound the most obvious destination but their league's play-off schedule fits in well with that of the BBL and Nurse made contacts when he attended last week's ULEB Cup final.

The only stumbling block could be arranging visas for some of his non-EU passport holders at short notice.

Bears will need to be at their best for the semis. Teams are more fired up than ever at this time of year and know three wins can turn an under-achieving season into a successful one.

Eighth-seeded Lions proved that by going eight points up in the first half on Saturday on the back of four three-pointers from John O'Connell.

Bears had enough weapons to turn things around and win more comfortably than the eight-point margin suggests but tougher tests await.

Nurse added: "It was what I expected. I told the team before the game that Milton Keynes were going to come in shooting free and easy because there was no pressure on them at all.

"We could have made it worse but I thought we played hard. We didn't play great defensively but we were busy trying to guard them and I thought that ate into them.

"Eventually they started missing, we started getting turnovers and we had a great start to the second half.

"These are the worst games, when you're expected to win. There's no fun in them. All that matters is you move on. Now anything can happen."

Absolutely anything. Like O'Connell hitting three threes in 62 seconds early in the second quarter to send Lions into an eight-point lead.

Or vastly experienced big man Shawn Jamison decking airborne Tom Frederick with a cynical foul late on when it became clear Lions, who gave their all, were heading for a 13th defeat in 13 games against Bears since Nurse took over.

A key player in turning Lions' optimism into frustration was their former centre Jason Siemon, who finished with a double-double and kept the scoreboard ticking at key times with some precise jump shots and strong put-backs.

He said: "We knew certain players for Milton Keynes were capable of having big nights but we battled the waves and when we had our chances we took advantage.

"You're always up for these games. It's do or die. You don't want to go home early but I always believe if you keep working hard good things will happen."

The good stuff for Bears really started when Frederick came up with two key baskets and Yorick Williams had a four-point play to put them back in the game.

Rico Alderson soared for a tip-in to nudge them in front at 38-37 with 3:54 to go in the second quarter, at which point skipper Randy Duck declared: "We've got the lead, don't give it back."

Bears had a 10-2 run late in the first half, then opened the second half with a 10-0 blast to take control at 58-44.

The only time Lions got back within single figures was when Joel Burns hit two threes in the last 22 seconds.

Sheffield will play London Towers in the other play-off semi.

Rico Alderson was named Bears' MVP for the season with Tom Frederick taking the most improved player prize. Randy Duck was most inspirational player and Mike Dines was supporter of the year.