Bears did their homework, smartened up their act and moved convincingly into a third major final in 14 months.

Randy Duck's men led for all but the first 28 seconds of their BBL Trophy semi with London Towers on Saturday.

They were 15-2 up inside three minutes, won by the same 13-point margin at 86-73 and, though there were a few twists along the way, always looked to have the edge.

Victory at Ponds Forge in Sheffield set up a final with Chester Jets across the steel city at the Hallam FM Arena on March 13.

It also rewarded a positive reaction to Tuesday's shambolic display against Newcastle.

A more applied approach to training and some in-depth research on Towers played a large part in the win.

The fact that Duck swapped his T-shirt and baggy track bottoms for a razor-sharp suit and tie was probably less relevant to the performance but it nicely summed up a more business-like approach from Bears.

The interim coach, who intends to be back in action in time for the final, admitted: "I made challenges to a couple of guys and that's going to stay personal, but they came out and responded.

"I was a bit nervous about what frame of mind they were in after that embarrassment on Tuesday but we had a couple of really hard days of practice and I made them watch the first half against Newcastle.

"They didn't like watching that and I understand why but I think it proved a point.

"Pat Connelly and I did a hell of a job in scouting Towers. We knew what they were going to run before they even ran it and our guys responded to the scouting reports.

"They stuck together and I'm really proud of them."

Bears hit seven of their first eight shots, including threes from Rico Alderson and Mike Brown, for a 15-2 lead.

Even while Kendrick Warren sat fuming on the bench after being called for two early fouls, they kept the momentum, restoring the 13-point lead on a three by Yorick Williams off Jason Siemon's assist and changing ends nine points clear.

Without Ricardo Greer, the contest would have been all over in the third quarter.

Greer hit 12 successive Towers' points but Bears kept coming up with answers at the other end.

Warren returned with a three then, when he missed from similar range, Sullivan Phillips soared for a tip-in.

Williams drew a charge off former Bear Ralph Blalock then converted the subsequent possession into three points and, had his half court hit-and-hope on the buzzer been a fraction shorter, Bears would have led by 21 at the final interval.

Instead, their 18-point cushion was trimmed to five going into the last two minutes.

Cue a couple of huge rejections by Alderson and Andrew Alleyne to deny Rod Brown and Blalock before Bears saw it through from the foul line.

Although Duck was keeping in-house business exactly that, the fact that Phillips top-scored and fired the last four points was fitting as he was the most improved player on view.

Always unpredictable and sometimes infuriating, Phillips is seen as a match winner by Duck who loves his mix of height, agility and extravagant ball skills. It is likely he was one of those ordered to step up.

Phillips said: "I'm not Duck but while he's out I'm going to try and do a little more offensively and try to keep things more constant.

"We came here to get at them early. We wanted to say 'We had a slip-up on Tuesday but don't get things twisted, we're still the team to beat'.

"We should have blown them away but overall I thought we did a good job."