The comeback kings are back in the title hunt after an astonishing weekend against the two form sides of the Southern Conference.

Brighton Bears followed Saturday's 85-73 success over leaders London Towers at the Triangle with a dramatic 99-98 overtime win at dark horses Milton Keynes Lions last night.

That was the third time this season Bears had pipped Lions by two points or less. By contrast, Saturday's victory was their first in five attempts over Towers.

But the performances had one thing in common. Sheer tenacity to get the victory when defeat was looking the most likely outcome.

Brighton trailed by as many as 12 on Saturday and dug an even bigger hole last night, falling 19 adrift straight after half-time.

The drama was enough to leave coach Nick Nurse hoarse ahead of his appearance on Sky Sports' NBA coverage last night but he was far from worried.

Nurse said: "It comes down to pride and fighting spirit. The guys were getting embarrassed and they didn't like it.

"We are playing to extremes right now, sometimes extremely well and sometimes extremely poor. We need to be more consistent.

"Once we started chipping away in the third quarter against Milton Keynes I felt really good and I thought it would be a shame if we didn't pull it off. In the end we deserved to win even though we were lucky as hell."

With Towers also losing to Birmingham last night, title honours are up for grabs again.

The winning weekend further underlined the value of new boy Rodger Farrington, who hit 12 fourth-quarter points against Towers and calmly sank two free throws in the final three seconds of regulation time last night.

Farrington's conversions rounded off a tremendous second- half display from Nurse's men who had suffered a nightmare five minutes approaching half- time, during which Milton Keynes outscored them 21-4 to open a seemingly decisive 55-38 lead.

Randy Duck started driving at the heart of the Lions defence in the third quarter, by the end of which Bears trailed just 72-66.

The gap was back out to nine in the final four minutes and the game looked up when Victor Payne hit both from the line to make it 86-80 after a fiercely contested call against Sterling Davis 50 seconds from time.

Duck hit a three, then stole the ball straight back for two more as Bears somehow recovered.

They generally controlled the extra period and were four clear when Davis hit two free throws seven seconds from the end although Jermaine Brown's three set up a tense last couple of seconds.

Milton Keynes scorers: Payne 29, Brown 22, Siemon 16, Alleyne 15, Noel 8, Lloyd 8.

Bears scorers: Duck 22, Farrington 21, Davis 15, White 15, Johnson 13, Brown 11, Seaman 2.

Bears produced a characteristically powerful finish to finally break Towers' stranglehold on them and delighted a near capacity crowd at the Triangle.

Trailing 60-53 going into the final quarter, they unpicked the tiring Towers' full-court zone and completed an ultimately comfortable victory.

Farrington in particular reaped rich rewards on his home debut and Wilbur Johnson rounded it off with a powerful dunk.

Earlier Bears had paid for two bad minutes in the first half as they fell seven points adrift at the main interval.

Points were traded in the third but crucially, a novel defensive strategy from coach Nurse to nullify the threat of potential match winners Terrell Myers and John White, worked effectively as the duo both found themselves double-teamed.

The hosts were assisted off the court by travelling Manchester Giants fans, who helped create a great atmosphere. The now defunct Giants won the play-offs under Nurse's guidance less than two years ago.

Bears scorers: Davis 21, White 15, Duck 15, Farrington 14, Johnson 13, Brown 7.

Towers scorers: Eppiheimer 27, Alllen 14, White 8, Myers 8, Mann 7, Robbins 6, Cheung 3.