Bears overcame a major hurdle with a thrilling double overtime win over Birmingham Bullets at the Aston Events Centre on Saturday.
The scores were tied at 66-66 at the end of regulation and 77-77 after the first period of overtime before Sterling Davis stepped up for the visitors.
Davis sunk a three-pointer before netting from the line to put Bears 86-84 ahead.
Dan Jackson missed two free throws for Bullets and Ralph Blalock and Randy Duck sealed the win with one free throw each either side of a missed shot by Birmingham's Eugene Baah. Bullets had led 15-9 at the end of the first quarter, but Bears levelled 31-31 at half-time and were two points in front going into the final quarter at 47-45.
With the scores tied, Kevin Griffin had the chance to win the match for Birmingham in regulation time, but he missed with the scores tied at 66-66.
Defeat piled on the problems for Bullets' under-fire coach Tony Garbelotto, whose previous clash with the Bears also ended in overtime defeat when he was in charge of Newcatle in last season's play-offs.
Leading scorers - Bullets: Jackson 20, Baah 17, Griffin 13.
Bears: Davis 23, Duck 17. Johnson 17.
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