Nick Nurse always knew he was letting his team in for a culture shock when he accepted the European challenge.

Last night, in a near deserted gym in the suburbs of Athens, he and his Brighton Bears side got the perfect illustration of how tough the life of jet-setters can be.

Leading 43-38 when Mike Brown ended the first half with a buzzer-beating three-pointer, Bears came back out with their guard down and paid the price with defeat in their ULEB Cup group F clash.

Coach Nurse was certainly using a boxing analogy when he reflected on 11 unanswered points in less than three minutes with which Ionikos, second from bottom of the powerful Greek League, opened the third quarter.

As for a knockout blow, that came with the hosts' 10-0 run in the fourth quarter after threes from the impressive Yorick Williams and skipper Randy Duck had hinted at a comeback.

Nurse admitted: "The obvious part of the game that disappointed me was the first minutes of the second half.

"I told my team we had worked really hard to build a five-point lead and we did not want to give it back without a big fight.

"Then we came out with our guard down and took ten points in the face without throwing one blow.

"We completely lost that battle and it partly decided the game."

Bears also suffered off the glass, being out-rebounded 40-27.

Not surprising perhaps given the absence of Rico Alderson (ineligible), Tom Frederick (injured) and Andrew Alleyne, who was not allowed into Greece because of visa complications.

Debutant Dave Morgan stood his ground in his eight minutes and Jason Siemon shot at 67 per cent from inside, but Ionikos still dominated in that area.

Nurse said: "We got pounded on the backboards pretty hard.

"They have got a lot of big guys and their rebounding was a big key to the game."

The Greeks often use English terminology when talking about sport, and the word "rebound" could be picked out regularly as home chief Kostas Pilafidis gave his verdict.

He admitted: "We won the rebounds battle but I don't think we played that well. We will get better."

Not that the culture shock was just about the clinical way in which Ionikos, coming off three narrow defeats, finished the job.

There was also the crowd.

Bears were told to expect an unbelievable atmosphere when they played in Greece.

The scenes in Nea Filadelpfia were certainly unbelievable last night. In this basketball mad nation, there were less than 100 people at the game.

Sources at the club had suggested several hundred fans would be present. Maybe three narrow defeats in a row or, more likely, a 6pm start and live television coverage put even the diehards off.

Those that did make it could hardly have been encouraged as Bears overcame an early six-point deficit, helped by Siemon's dunk after a Brown steal and Duck assist.

Kendrick Warren, who again got plenty of success going to the hoop, opened the second quarter with two free throw misses, but Bears regained possession and Andy Gardiner hit his only three points of the night to forge a 20-19 lead.

Bears went on a 10-2 run, Ionikos countered with 13 straight points, then the visitors had their best moments as they fired the last ten points of the half.

Williams got a steal and finished fouled for a three-point play.

Warren hit two free throws and Brown's finish from in front of the Brighton bench sent them to the changing rooms on a high.

It soon changed. Robert Conley led Ionikos on that key 11-0 third-quarter opening and it was a seven-point game at the final interval.

Joe McNull hit three successive baskets in a 10-0 home run before Willams and Brown produced quickfire threes.

That made it 82-73 with 58 seconds to play and hope returned as Williams let fly again from long range.

This time, though, his effort rimmed out and Ionikos were free to play out time.