Bears fan Oli Roche has admitted he was ecstatic to get on court and score two points with his favourite BBL club.

The 6ft.9in 18-year-old from Findon was brought up on the heroics of Herman Harried and Alan Cunningham and was taught the basics by Dave Yates at Angmering.

Not surprising then that, when the call came from Nick Nurse on Friday evening to travel to Leicester, he jumped at it.

Roche had previously been playing for Worthing Thunder and the Bears juniors but Nurse has been keeping tabs on his progress for some time.

The Bears chief was making complimentary comments about Roche's skills when he saw him in outdoor action on Brighton seafront.

Roche said: "He met me there and at the Hosana pro-am and asked me to come along and train.

"At the time I had commitments with Thunder which I wanted to stick to because they gave me my chance to play last season.

"I was injured at the start of the season and Thunder have three really good big men so it was going to be hard to get back in.

"Nick said if I squared it with the EBBA I could go and play with the Bears. Thunder were really good about it. I spoke to (coach) Gary Smith and he was fine.

"I still didn't expect to play. I thought I was just travelling with the team for experience.

"When I scored I was ecstatic. All I could hear was Errol Seaman and Wil Johnson shouting 'Shoot, Oli'.

"The ball rolled on the ring and bounced around and finally dropped in and I was so happy, as you could see from the celebrations afterwards."

Roche, who sat out the opening months of the season with a knee injury, aims to gain high school or college experience in the States before returning to play professionally in England.

Johnson for one is backing him to make it. He said: "Oli is a nice young kid and a pretty good player. He doesn't lack confidence, which is good, and he has a bright future."