Brighton Bears coach Nick Nurse has called for his side to make some serious steps forward when they go to Worthing Thunder in the Subway South Coast Classic tonight.

Bears visit their EBL neighbours in the first leg of the pre-season event (8pm) looking to build on a low key win at Bognor in midweek while, for Thunder, it is a chance for fine tuning ahead of their competitive campaign, which starts next Saturday.

Nurse said: "Worthing have a nice basketball team who played good and tough against us this time last year so it will be a valuable exercise.

"We've got a long way go and I hope to play better than we did at Bognor."

Bears have been training two or three time a day, though they were given yesterday morning off. Their side at Durrington is expected to be the same as beat the Pirates, including young bench man Simon Taylor.

Meanwhile, Bears have been penalised for their top four league finish last year in the draw for the first round of the BBL Cup. A bizarre seeding system sees the top four play in the first round, with Bears visiting Sheffield for a place in the last eight. The bottom six last season all have byes.