BRIGHTON Bears' hopes of clinching a place in the semi-finals of the National Cup were dashed when holders Sheffield Sharks once again got the better of them at the Thunderdome in Derby.

Bears 90-75 defeat comes as their third reverse against Sharks in the last fortnight, and Chris Finch's powerful team have now won eight successive matches since going down 86-79 to Manchester in the Championship on the opening day of the season.

Brighton went into the clash all out for revenge after being beaten by Sharks 101-71 in the Championship before a much closer encounter in the Uniball Trophy at the Brighton Centre saw Finch's men edge home 76-67.

Sharks hold the Indian sign over Brighton as Bears have not won a league match against them in 16 attempts, but Finch's team, most of whom have played together for years, were always going to provide a stern examination for Charles Luke-Bannerman's new look Bears.

Brighton went into the game without rising star Jan Trojanowski, who had to return to Poland following a death in the family, and Jon Gaines stepped into his starting position and led all scorers with 30 points.

Brighton gave a debut to six foot seven inch Londoner Michael Martin, signed from London Leopards, and he had 14 minutes on court.

Budweiser Player of the Year Terrell Myers hit 18 points for Sharks and Nate Reinking recorded a double double in terms of points scoring and assists. Ian McKinney also fired 17 points with five three pointers from five attempts.

Sharks, who passed the ball sweetly and regularly found their shooters outside, hit 63% from the floor against 47%.

Bears, who disappointingly made only eight of their 22 attempts from three point range, turned the ball over 20 times against 16 by Sharks - most of Sheffield's losses coming late in the game.

Brighton got off to a good start and Gaines fired ten early points as they led 15-6 before Sheffield responded with a 14-2 run.

It was 25-24 to Sheffield with eight minutes remaining in the first half when Sharks put together an 18-4 tear over four minutes and this gave them a platform to go on and win the game.

Gaines hit his first three pointer to make it 45-37 to Sheffield just before the interval before McKinney replied from long range as Sharks crossed over 50-37 ahead.

Sheffield came out with a 10-2 run to start the second half and, although Bears came back to half the deficit at 65-54, a 10-1 run by Sharks put them firmly in control at 78-57.

Sharks led by as many as 25 points in the second half but Bears trimmed the deficit with a spirited 10-3 closing run.

Bears finish a busy October by entertaining Chester in their third Uniball Trophy group game at Burgess Hill on Saturday before visiting Derby in the Championship the following day.

Bears Scorers: Gaines 30, Claxton 18, Sharp 18, Martin 4, Brown 3, R.Scantlebury 2.

Sharks Scorers: Myers 18, Reinking 17, McKinney 17, P.Scantlebury 10, Cauthorn 10, Johnson 10, Windle 6, Payne 2.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.