A late fightback failed to save Brighton Bears from another defeat against Milton Keynes Lions.

Lions' 92-87 win at Bletchley Leisure Centre put them ten points ahead of bottom-placed Bears, who have won just one of their last 11 games.

Coach Mark Dunning has been at pains to point out that Bears are not yet out of the play-off race as there are still 14 games remaining.

But the team's inconsistency and failure to put a 40-minute game on the floor continue to be areas of concern, and Dunning will be seeking to crack the problem before Bears' next match at home to Edinburgh a week tomorrow.

Bears, who tumbled to their heaviest defeat of the season in going down 97-60 at Northern Conference leaders Manchester the previous week, gave Milton Keynes a scare before the hosts clinched a third successive championship win.

Lions, 72-62 ahead going into the final quarter, led 86-74 before Bears produced a 13-3 tier to reduce the deficit to only two.

But Tony Windless and Eric Burks then sealed Lions win by making three of four free throws in the last minute.

American Burks who hit a game-high 23 points in Lions' superb 80-76 win over London Towers, followed up with 24 while Kelvin Robinson hit 16 points and also had ten rebounds and six blocks.

Lions, 25-19 ahead after the first quarter stepped it up in the next period and, at 35-31, they scored 11 points without reply on the way to ending the half 56-42 in front.

Giant centre Charles Claxton was Bears' top marksman with 22 points and he also pulled down 15 rebounds.

Bears have a long-standing problem in getting going in matches away from home and since the start of the 1997/98 season they have lost 53 of their last 58 road games.

So far this term they have lost nine of ten away games in the Conference, and Dunning's only win since taking charge has been against Birmingham three weeks ago.

Brighton Bears: Claxton 22, Trojanowski 19, Gaines 15, Sharp 12, Scantlebury 10, Brown 6, Miles 3.

Milton Keynes Lions: Burks 24, Cox 19, Robinson 16, Windless 14, Bobb 11, Noel 6, Russell 2.

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