Thames Valley Tigers 96, Brighton Bears 108: Albert White reckons sharpshooting Bears are ready to frighten the life out of the rest of British basketball.

The man hailed by coach Nick Nurse as the best player in the league piled up 40 points and ten rebounds as Brighton Bears won for the first time in six years away to their old rivals.

He received top class support all over the court as Bears scored their first Trophy win for two seasons and sent out a warning to the rest of the BBL.

Thames Valley are flying and their atmospheric little home court is a tough place to go to and win.

But Bears refused to buckle when the going got tough and, with their attacking flair and an uncanny sense of timing, managed to silence home fans whenever the decibel level started creeping up.

Most of the decisive plays revolved around White. He endured a nightmare at this venue when Bears lost in the Championship last weekend but erased that with 24 points by half-time.

He said: "This time I just tried to put up some kind of offence and some kind of defensive intensity and fortunately things were falling for me.

"Things can only get better, especially as a team. The way we played tonight was scary. If we play like that every night we can be one of the top teams in this league."

It was not all about White. Sterling Davis again impressed at both ends of the court, Randy Duck pulled the strings and Michael Brown produced the defensive tenacity any team needs from their guards if they are to keep the Tigers at bay.

Wilbur Johnson no longer makes the headlines he managed with last year's struggling side but, all the time he does the dirty work under the baskets while quietly picking up his 15-20 points and a dozen rebounds, Bears will be thrilled. He was top man off the boards on Saturday with 14.

Nurse was delighted. He said: "It was a much better concentrated job by us, physically and mentally. We got to the basket so much more. Sterling and Albert are so talented and Wilbur is a good player but we just haven't been attacking the basket strongly. All three of them were much better in that respect."

Once again the second quarter proved decisive, but this time in Bears' favour. They opened it with a 10-2 run, including a three-pointer from Brown and a cheeky steal by Duck off Barry Bowman, and led by 15 at the half.

The gap grew to 70-53 before Tigers responded, notably when Greg Meldrum hit one of his eight threes to make it 81-70 at the final interval.

Crucially, the hosts were never allowed to go on a run.

The only time things looked awkward was in the last five minutes when Davis went to four fouls and Michael Martin cut the gap to 91-86 from the line.

Thames Valley: Meldrum 26, Bowman 23, Martin 15, Burks 14, Robinson 11, Jamison 7. Bears: White 40, Davis 22, Johnson 17, Duck 16, Brown 9, Seaman 4.

WORTHING Thunder coach Gary Smith was a proud man after his side grabbed a dramatic Conference win at Coventry.

Thunder trailed 35-21 at the quarter and 55-51 at the half in their league opener.

But they outscored their hosts 24-13 in the this period before completing a 111-104 success.

Sean Hampton scored 45 points.