Brighton Bears stormed into second place in the Southern Conference with a fine 95-83 win away to Edin-burgh Rocks last night.

Nick Nurse's in-form men followed up their 95-82 success at Newcastle on Friday to dish out a lesson to their struggling Scottish hosts.

Bears are turning out to be genuine contenders for the Conference crown.

Their fifth championship win in the last six games puts them just two points behind leaders Thames Valley.

A clash against London Towers at Burgess Hill represents their next game on December 30.

And that will be an ideal opportunity for Nurse to gauge his side's improve-ment after they suffered two defeats against the same opposition earlier in the season.

Sterling Davis led Bears to a comfortable win over Edinburgh by landing 33 points, 25 of them in the first half.

Albert White hit 24 as his team came through their northern test with flying colours.

Brighton led from start to finish and, after leading 24-20 at the end of the first quarter, they turned it on to outscore their opponents 28-17 and cross over 52-37 in front.

Rocks, who have now been beaten in their last five meetings against the Bears, rallied in the third period to pull back to within four points, but it was 72-62 going into the final ten minutes.

Brighton guard Michael Brown, and Rocks' one-time Bears forward Jon Gaines, both fouled out as the visitors coasted home.

Edinburgh coach Kevin Wall admitted: "Brighton are a mighty fine team."

Rocks, for whom Ted Berry fired 31 points, did manage to out-rebound their opponent 40-29.

But Bears shot a lot bet-ter than the home side from the floor in recording their fifth away win in the last six.

LEADING SCORERS - Bears: Davis 33, White 22, Duck 17. Rocks: Berry 31, Graves 21, Gaines 14.