Bears are fired up for the final four

The skipper hit 24 points against his old club London Towers to lead an 89-82 success in last night's captivating BBL Championship quarter-final at the Brighton Centre.

Victory in a ferociously contested affair sets up a semi against under-rated Newcastle at the NIA in Birmingham a week on Saturday, with the winners playing Sheffield or Scottish Rocks a day later at the same venue.

The NIA was the scene of Bears' National Cup triumph three months ago but they missed out on the league title, the prize they most wanted, to Sheffield and Duck admitted that still rankles.

He said: "Over the course of the year I thought we were the better team. Obviously I'm biased but player for player what we have here is the best.

"We have guys who are among the top players in the league so we have something to prove.

"It's not to the coaches, it's not to the fans, it's not to anyone else, it's to ourselves.

"We took winning the league very seriously and we weren't able to do that so we are going out with one thing in mind. We want that play-off trophy."

Bears can expect a tremendous battle with Newcastle, the team who took them to the final few seconds of overtime in the last eight a year ago.

The tussle with Towers will have prepared them well. The rest of the league may have felt Bears would brush aside their derby rivals but Brighton fans knew better.

Towers have always played to their maximum against Brighton this season, which makes their final league placing of seventh all the more puzzling and Bears' record of six wins in eight meetings all the more creditable.

Bears were generally on top in last night's showdown after a 10-2 burst early in the third quarter.

They led 63-47 when Ralph Blalock hit his only three-pointer with 2:12 to go in the period.

Theo Dixon, who came alive after a pointless first half, replied as the quarter finished 66-53.

Rico Alderson's three was Bears' only field goal of the opening 5:30 of the fourth quarter as Towers rallied.

Mike Brown drove through a gap created by Wilbur Johnson's screen for a three-point play to restore the double digit cushion.

Terrell Myers and Shaheen Holloway though guided threes over Bears' zone defence and suddenly the lead was just 74-71 as home coach Nick Nurse called a halt with 2:23 to play.

Blalock, as ever, came up with some huge plays late on, including the very next basket after his cut to the hoop had been expertly fed by Sterling Davis's pass.

Holloway's three made it 76-74 with 1:55 to play but Blalock grabbed a loose ball and finished with a trademark spin move to open a four-point gap.

John O'Connell, for the third time against Bears this season, then missed a crunch three-pointer and Davis took the rebound.

Bears fed Duck on a fast break and he scored as he was fouled by Holloway, adding the extra for an 80-74 lead.

The Bears back court trio then saw it through from the line as the celebrations started.

Nurse said: "I thought we were really ready for this one. Our guys looked focussed and I thought we played that way.

"I told them to calm down before the game. They were really prepared and I said 'Don't try and win the game in five minutes'.

"I thought they held their composure and did a really good job."

Not everyone in the venue stayed calm when, for instance, Alderson had his cheek split open at a jump ball, Davis was sent reeling by Kendrick Warren's flailing arm or Duck was pulled back by O'Connell.

The game was punctuated by 68 free throws, with Bears missing 16 of their 40, but they stood their ground in the battle.

Duck said: " Some things got a bit ridiculous. I wanted to make sure they knew if they wanted to let if fly, I'd tell my guys to bump a little harder and set screens a little harder and we did that."

Now Bears can aim to heal the wounds of their failed title bid.

Bears: Duck 24, Davis 19, Blalock 18, Brown 10, Johnson 10, Alderson 8.

Towers: Holloway 19, Dixon 14, O'Connell 13, Warren 11, Myers 10, Craven 9, Baker 6.

Quarter scores: 24-19, 21-20, 21-14, 23-29.