The bright new dawn will have to wait at least a week for Brighton Bears after they were mauled by old rivals Thames Valley Tigers.

New-look Bears went down 89-68 at The Triangle last night in the first home game for coach Nick Nurse and half of his team.

Brighton have only been together for a week and will face some hard work on the practice court in the coming days ahead of their next game with London Leopards at the Brighton Centre next Sunday.

This was not quite the comedy show of last season's opening night against Tigers.

But Bears' shooting from inside was poor, with Wilbur Johnson well below his best. Overall, the hosts shot at just 30 per cent from the floor with Mike Brown hitting just three from 17.

Bears' lack of a proper pre-season also caught up with them. Tigers were taking on European opponents in the summer before this Bears side had even been put together and the difference showed last night.

Coach Nurse was frustrated with his side's showing after a promising effort at champions Leicester the previous evening.

He said: "It was not the start we wanted but we will get better.

"We got up 20-15 and they were having a hard time getting shots but then there was a momentous swing.

"It was very disappointing but I'm learning a lot of things about these guys and it takes time."

By half-time, Bears' long- suffering fans were already experiencing deja vu as their side fell 11 points behind.

There were signs of promise when, with guards Randy Duck, Brown and Mark Jackson on court together, they sped into that five-point advantage.

That was as good as it got for the hosts. Tigers responded with a decisive 16-2 run, on the back of three Eric Burks three-pointers, to open a 35-24 half-time lead.

Although Dave Wahl and Johnson pulled down plenty of rebounds, they never really functioned offensively. Sterling Davis opened the third quarter with a three-pointer and was one of the relative successes of the evening for Bears.

But they never cut the deficit to less than seven points and by the end were fighting a vain battle to keep it at less than 20.

Bears: Johnson 18, Duck 15, Brown 13, Davis 13, Wahl 5, Seaman 2, Jackson 2.

Thames Valley Tigers: Burks 23, Bowman 23, Meldrum 12, Lewis 9, Walker 9, Robinson 6, Martin 4, Davies 2, Butterworth 1.

Sterling Davis and Randy Duck made encouraging debuts for Bears as they were just edged out 83-80 in their season's opener at Leicester Riders on Saturday.

BBL champions Leicester, for whom Ralph Blalock fired 27 points, came out on top after the teams went into the final quarter locked together at 59-59.

Riders went 75-70 ahead with under two minutes to play, aided by two free throws each by Jermaine Brown and Blalock.

Bears later pulled it back to 77-76 thanks to two baskets by Wilbur Johnson, but a three-pointer by Brown effectively saw off the visitors' chance.

Davis hit 22 points in 37 minutes on court while former London Towers guard Duck had four steals and four assists to go with his 21 points.

Riders scorers: Blalock 27, J. Brown 19, Singleton 18, Gaines 12, K. Brown 5, Thomas 2.

Bears scorers: Johnson 23, Davis 22, Duck 21, Wahl 7, Seaman 4, Brown 3.

Worthing Thunder produced a rousing comeback to keep their Trophy bid on course but coach Gary Smith admitted: "It was a crazy game."

Thunder trailed by 12 points midway through the second quarter but beat visitors Interbasket 100-83 on Saturday on the back of a 27-point supershow from Gaylon Moore.

Smith said: "We are the most talented team in the league but if we don't play together anybody can beat us. We still looked a bit ragged in the second half but we picked it up enough."

A 13-0 run early in the second quarter from Interbasket's livewires set alarm bells ringing for Thunder, though the deficit was back to 50-42 at half-time.

The previously scoreless Paul Mundy-Castle came alive in the second half and, with improved defence, Thunder dragged themselves level at 64-64 by the final interval.

Three-pointers from Mundy-Castle and Sean Hampton then set the tone for an irresistible performance in the final quarter.

Darren Cheal, James Crabtree and Mark Vingoe all played decent roles off the bench and James Brame produced his most assertive performance of the season.

Thunder scorers: Moore 27, Hampton 22, Mundy-Castle 21, Brame 11, Martin 7, Vingoe 6, Cheal 4, Addy 2.

Thunder hit 45 points in the final quarter to win a stormy match 119-87 at Westminster last night. Hampton scored 41, Mundy-Castle 31 and Moore 21.