Thames Valley 99, Bears 88: Bears cannot afford another horror show like this if they are to claim the title and coach Nick Nurse knows it.

Bears suffered their first defeat in eight games and their first setback in five trips to old rivals Thames Valley Tigers to leave the race for top spot on a knife edge.

They still lead Sheffield by virtue of their better record in head to head meetings while Chester's revival from 11 points down against Newcastle last night leaves them one win behind the leaders.

Bears go to Newcastle on Friday in one of their most important games of the season.

They will be desperate for an improvement on yesterday's effort, which saw them trail by 21 points in the third quarter.

They will also look to get Ralph Blalock back in action after a muscle twinge he suffered against Leopards last Thursday led to swelling which forced him out of yesterday's clash.

Matters were not helped when Randy Duck was called for a charging foul as he went to the hoop midway through the third quarter and threw the ball away in disgust.

The resulting technical took him to five fouls and had the courtside commentators scrambling for their "Hit the road Jack" tape as Bears faced mission near-impossible.

They got back to 90-86 on a Wilbur Johnson and-one with 1:26 to go, only for the same player to foul out on the next possession as Mike Nurse completed a three-point play of his own.

A highly-charged affair saw Rico Alderson and both coaches receive technicals and Tigers star Barry Bowman foul out.

The referees halted proceedings to cool tempers while the match night commentator, having done his best to get fans to fever pitch, then appealed for them to all calm down again.

There were 48 fouls, split evenly, and 58 free throws, with Bears coach Nurse clearly unhappy at the way the game was handled.

Of more concern though was a Brighton display which included 42 per cent two-point shooting, an unfavourable 41-35 rebound tally and too many basic errors.

Nurse admitted: "We weren't ready from the start. We weren't moving our feet, we were out-rebounded and we had nothing in terms of concentration, energy or toughness.

"That's a really poor performance by most of our guys. It looked like our second half with Leopards the other night.

"It was a hell of an effort to try and get back in the game but we didn't deserve to win.

"It's a concern and so is getting Ralph back healthy."

Physio Amy Rennolds admits it is wait and see on Blalock and his fitness could be decisive in Bears' title push. He was certainly missed yesterday.

Johnson had a night to forget, Sterling Davis shot at 33 per cent and was quiet until the final fling while Alderson combined the inspired with the kamikaze with very little in between.

Mike Brown provided four three-pointers and a lead role in the energetic pressing defence which dragged Bears back into the game and high marks went to bench men Bud Johnston and Errol Seaman.

The way they stepped up galvanised fans and players alike for a tremendous late charge.

Johnston fired two threes, one off his own steal, and his two boards included a leap above Tony Holley, one of the top rebounders in the league.

Seaman converted three of four shots and had a steal off Holley as they grappled like two rugby forwards in a maul.

Stirring stuff but not enough against hosts who shot at 57 per cent inside the arc and missed just four of 28 free throws.

Tigers were 49-39 up at the half and stretched that to 73-52 when Greg Meldrum sank a three-pointer with 2:10 to play in the third quarter.

Bears ended that period with a 7-0 run to make it 77-61 and were back in it as Davis, Johnston and Alderson hit successive threes.

Ed Williams' foul on Johnson gave him the chance to make it a four-point game. It was 93-88 with 56 seconds to go but the threes then dried up and Tigers finished the job at the line.

Thames Valley: Graves 20, Nurse 20, Holley 18, Williams 16, Meldrum 16, Bowman 9.

Bears: Davis 18, Alderson 15, Brown 14, Johnson 13, Duck 13, Johnston 8, Seaman 7.