Wilbur Johnson did not take long to set new goals after his MVP performance in Bears' cup final win.

Johnson was the obvious focus for media attention after leading his side to a memorable 89-79 verdict over Chester Jets.

But the interviews stopped for a moment when Jets coach Robbie Peers walked past and offered the big man his congratulations.

Johnson reciprocated, then said: "We'll see you at Wembley. And this time we'll be No. 1 seeds."

Peers had warned before the game that Johnson was coming back to his best. He also claimed Bears were a better side without Randy Duck.

No one in dark blue will go along with that but Johnson felt his side possibly surprised Chester with the way they stuck to the task.

He said: "We played a pretty good first half and Nick (Nurse) told us in the locker room to get back out there and let them know we were going to be around for 40 minutes.

"They might have been expecting us without Randy to be a little down or whatever but we were able to take their punches in the first half.

"Then we came back out in the second half, played a gutsy first five minutes and not only were we still in the game, we were up by eight.

"Chester keep you on your toes. There were times when we were up by ten or 12 points and we might have got a little lax and started celebrating too early.

"Next thing we were up by six so we had to keep our concentration for the full 40 minutes.

"They are a great team, give them credit, but we are well worth this championship.

Johnson won plenty of prizes in his days at Sheffield but admitted he was desperate to add a medal at Brighton after helping climb from rock bottom of the southern conference.

He added: "I would have beaten myself up if I had gone to Thames Valley or somewhere and even won three championships while Brighton won one knowing I could have been a part of success here."

For Rico Alderson and Mike Brown, thIs was a first winner's medal in domestic basketball.

Essex Leopards owner Ed Simons, Alderson's boss last season, was among the first to congratulate his former employee at courtside.