Skipper Randy Duck has accused Lietuvos Rytas of over-confidence after they escaped with a two-point win over the Brighton Bears last night.

The Bears captain admitted his side were heartbroken to lose 64-62 to one of the top teams in Europe on an extraordinary night at the Brighton Centre.

His claims were layer backed up by Jonas Kazlaukas, who admitted his men were fortunate to scrape through on the back of their defensive work.

Duck said: "I cannot sum up how heartbreaking that was.

"I've been playing basketball for a long time and I don't ever disrespect people but I think they walked in with a bragging attitude. That hurts because we had something to prove. It really hurts we came up two points short."

Kazlaukas failed to appear at the mandatory post-match press conference but later admitted: "Our players over-estimated themselves and under-estimated the English team. That was the main reason it was such a dramatic game."

A huge contingent of Lithuanian fans helped turn the Centre into a cauldron of noise, colour and excitement as the game went down to the final few seconds.

Bears chief Nick Nurse loved the drama but could hardly believe his side had suffered a third successive narrow defeat.

He said: "It was a hell of a night. We played our butts off and our effort was outstanding.

"It's going to be hard looking at zero wins after the way we have played in our three games."