Brighton Bears narrowed the gap on leaders Sheffield Sharks to two points with a closely fought 83-75 victory over Scottish Rocks last night.

Bears continued their fine form north of the border to make it nine straight wins and they still have three games in hand over Sheffield.

Their latest success puts them two points ahead of third-placed Chester and further progress can be made on Sunday when Nick Nurse's men go to Newcastle.

Brighton, 38-36 ahead at the break, had to withstand a late fightback from Rocks who out-scored their opponents 27-22 in the third quarter.

American forward Sterling Davis led all scorers with 22 points while veteran Wilbur Johnson hit 15 in another important victory.

There were no fewer than 20 lead changes in the match and Bears held on after scoring the first five points in the final quarter.

A worry for Bears is an injury to Ralph Blalock who injured his foot and may be a doubt for the Newcastle game.

Assistant coach Steve Swanson admitted Bears had to work hard for their win which was made especially difficult after both Johnson and Rico Alderson each picked up two fouls in the opening three minutes of the game.

Swanson said: "Because of the foul trouble, Errol Seaman and Jason Medford came off the bench early and they did really well.

"Another plus for us was that we denied Ted Berry a single point in the first-half.