Nick Nurse is facing his most testing few days yet in the quest to take Brighton Bears to domestic glory.

Bears crashed 68-66 to underdogs Chester Jets in a thrilling BBL Trophy final at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield as Rico Alderson's tip-in, which would have forced overtime, was ruled to have come fractionally after the final buzzer.

Then the wheels well and truly came off last night when coach Nurse and his shattered team dragged themselves to Glasgow and were thrashed 106-82 by Scottish Rocks in league action.

Nurse and Kendrick Warren were ejected for dissent. It was the second time the coach has been ejected this season and he seems certain to face a ban while Warren may also be suspended, depending on the findings of the league's disciplinary body.

Bears remain top of the table ahead of next Saturday's home clash with closest rivals Sheffield Sharks, but are showing their first signs of vulnerability against British opponents in months.

It was a dismal weekend with the tone being set in the closing stages of Saturday's final.

Defeat there came in the most heartbreaking of finales for a Bears team who under-performed but still should have grabbed their first prize of the season.

Referees Will Jones and Roger Harrison had to consult with the table officials before finally deciding Alderson's tip-in would not count. The confusion, though, went back further.

Nurse said: "The basket might not have been good but you had to go to the possession before that.

"There were 31.9 seconds left and a fresh shot clock. We came down and didn't even run the shot clock down, took a shot, they got the rebound and we fouled immediately. Then suddenly there's 5.6 left.

"I looked at the clock and it was running and nobody cared. Just do the maths. There had to be more than 5.6 seconds left. There should have been about nine-and-a-half left in that last possession."

So Bears lost the final because of dodgy time-keeping? Possibly, but it wasn't quite that simple.

They also lost because they shot poorly from three-point range and the free throw line, they took the easy option of attempting threes rather than working the ball inside, they had too many players below par, they made a mess of a vital possession at the end of the third quarter, they turned the ball over too often in the first half and they lacked leadership on court.

Put in its simplest terms, they scored fewer baskets from more attempts than Chester both from open play and the line.

They also failed to score in the last 3min.34sec after taking a 66-62 lead.

Hard to say who were the better team on the day. It was that close. What is beyond doubt is that Jets played closest to their full capability.

Then there was the Randy Duck factor. The theory around the league recently has been Bears don't really miss their captain, who sat out this game through injury.

True, they don't miss him. Not when they are blowing out poor opponents or even against top teams when they take charge early.

In dogfights like Saturday's, though, his presence is crucial. A fully-fit Duck would have taken charge of events, driven to the heart of the Jets defence and dragged Bears past the finishing post.

Nurse admitted his team got it badly wrong. He said: "I told them 'Don't go in there and shoot 30 threes because you'll lose'.

"A good example is Rico going two-for-ten. The guy shouldn't shoot more than four threes and he shoots ten in the Trophy final."

John McCord, a perennial thorn in Bears' side, stuck to what he does best close to the hoop and was deservedly named MVP.

He was out of the game when threes from Brown, arguably Bears' best player, and Yorick Williams capped a 10-0 run and sent them into a 48-40 lead.

Jets dug in and had momentum on their side after a key passage of play at the end of the third period.

Warren was told to run the clock down and get off a shot but never looked confident, failed to score and gave Jets enough time for Mike Nurse to hit a three, reducing arrears to 55-53.

Bears should have still gone on to win after Brown's three and a Warren finish sent them 66-62 up.

Nurse replied, McCord hit a free throw and Calvin Davis had a put-back with 31.9 seconds to play.

Warren looked to reply but his close range attempt stayed out, Bears fouled Davis as he rebounded and suddenly there were just 5.6 seconds left.

Davis hit the first free throw, missed the second and Bears got the ball to Brown, but his drive and shot stayed out before Alderson tipped in.

For Warren it was a horrible case of deja vu. His London Towers side had a late leveller chalked off in identical fashion in last season's final.

He said: "Any time it comes down to the table it's not going to be a good call. We didn't play the way we've been playing.

"We shot too many threes. The league is very important now. We need to win something this year."

Chester coach Paul Smith backed Bears to finish top but Nurse said: "We could find ourselves right back in a dogfight."

Those words were spoken before the trek to Scotland and proved prophetic.

Scottish Rocks led 20-15 after the first quarter and then out-scored Bears 25-14 in the second.

Their lead was extended in the third as Nurse and Warren were ejected.

Jerry Williams led Rocks with 34 points while Andrew Alleyne had 15 and Sullivan Phillips and Yorick Williams 14 apiece for Bears.

Playing the day after the Trophy final always looked like being a tall order. That was underlined when Chester lost at lowly Milton Keynes yesterday.

Now Sheffield's visit to the Brighton Centre is starting to look like another cup final for Nurse and his men.