Sterling Davis was the driving force for Brighton Bears last night as they took another impressive step to a second piece of silverware.

The cup winners overcame an early ten point deficit to power to a convincing 108-86 win at rivals Thames Valley Tigers in the British League.

They were led home by Davis who hit three three-pointers in his 12 of 17 shooting but was even more impressive when going strongly to the hoop.

The 6ft 7in forward is at his best when driving for the basket to create straightforward shooting chances and draw contact from opponents and there was plenty of that last night, helping him top-up his tally by converting nine out of ten free throws.

Wilbur Johnson added nine rebounds to his 75 per cent shooting and Rico Alderson capped another eye-catching display with eight assists and seven boards.

It would have been even more one-sided had Tigers not connected with 12 three-pointers, five of them from Barry Bowman, but Bears were impressive from outside the arc too, hitting nine out of 18.

The only time they looked uncomfortable was in that horrendous start, forcing coach Nick Nurse to haul them in at 11-2 down after four minutes.

Michael Nurse's three extended that to 14-4 before Bears picked up the tempo impressively, finishing the quarter just 21-18 adrift with Ralph Blalock hitting eight points.

The King topped that straight after the interval with an alley-oop pass for Davis and a three-pointer and, by the time Tigers called a time out with seven minutes 32 seconds to play in the half, Bears led 32-24.

The advantage was up to 13 points before Bowman and Greg Meldrum replied with back-to-back threes.

Johnson, though, twice connected from outside and, with Davis netting 13 points in the quarter, Bears changed ends with a 55-42 lead.

Davis continued to trouble the Tigers in the third period and, when he did his bit under the Bears' basket with a block on Meldrum, the subsequent counter-raid was finished by a Johnson dunk to stretch the lead to 20.

Alderson produced two superb moves to the hoop for a three-pointer as Bears continued to turn it on, leading 80-64 at the final break.

It was show time from then on and Alderson dunked his way off the court after completing a three-point play to help Bears round off their evening with a flourish.

Thames Valley Tigers: Bowman 22, Meldrum 15, Graves 14, Nurse 12, Williams 11, Holley 5, Bisaro 3, M.James 2, Cadogan 2.

Bears: Davis 36, Blalock 24, Alderson 19, Johnson 18, Etete 5, Brown 4, Seaman 2.