Nick Nurse admits he must come up with something special if Brighton Bears are to topple the leaders tomorrow night.

Bears host London Towers at the Triangle (7pm) with Nurse anxious to score his first win over his former club in five attempts.

Towers, who were on NEBL duty in Lithuania last night, are well set to retain their southern conference crown.

But Bears' excellent 94-73 midweek win at Leopards leaves them on course for second place ahead of a tough weekend which also sees them visit Milton Keynes on Sunday (4pm).

Nurse said: "It will be interesting. One of the things we have to guard against is deciding we won't beat them and not giving it our all.

"We need to understand we have to play our socks off and give ourselves a chance.

"Think back to how hard we played against them a couple of times and give ourselves a chance. I would like to think I can some up with a strategy to help us."

For the first time this season Bears will know exactly what they are up against.

Towers have gone into the previous four meetings with either a new coach or new signings but the match-ups this time will be the same as the recent Trophy quarter-final.

Bears under-performed that day and went down by six, having lost by a single point to Towers at Burgess Hill in December.

The long-range shooting of Terrell Myers and John White was key to both games.

Towers are the best three-point shooters in the league while Myers leads the individual rankings with a 53 per cent success rate.

Bears forward Sterling Davis, who was back to his best in midweek, is keen to avoid a repeat.

He said: "We definitely want to get Towers. We have had a couple of opportunities against them already this year and hopefully we can get them this time.

"We have got a lot of games at the moment and it can take a toll on your body but coach Nurse has been doing a good job resting us and not working us too hard in practice because he knows the kind of schedule we have ahead of us."

Bears must also be on the guard on Sunday against a Milton Keynes side who they twice struggled to beat in Sussex before Christmas.

It look a late piece of Albert White magic to set up a two-point win at the Brighton Centre, then an 18-0 comeback to clinch victory at the Triangle.

One change since then has seen Lions replace Reggie Kirk with 6ft.4in guard Jermaine Brown, who starred in a good recent run which included a Trophy quarter-final success over Thames Valley.

Nurse said: "Milton Keynes need every win because they are good enough to make the play-offs but are so far back and they will be looking to put one over us."

Worthing Thunder chase a third successive win as they visit the talented youngsters of Manchester Magic in the NBL tomorrow (7pm).

Assistant coach Neil McElduff said: "We are pleased to be winning but we had 32 turnovers at Reading last week, which is far too many, so it still feels a bit fragile."