Nick Nurse today urged his new Brighton Bears playmaker to turn on the magic on his home debut.

Terrance McGee will be in command out in the middle as Bears take on London Towers in BBL action before a big Brighton Centre crowd tomorrow.

Nurse admits travelling fans have not yet seen anything like the best of the point guard he signed during the summer.

McGee was below his best as Bears suffered a fairly convincing 86-72 defeat at Milton Keynes Lions before a sell-out crowd last night.

Bears trailed 22-15 after the first quarter and were always chasing the game after a nightmare spell in the second period left them 28-14 adrift.

Foul trouble played a part as they quickly found themselves in the penalty in the second period.

Bears were down by 12 at half-time and 13 after three quarters.

They attempted to turn up the defensive heat and get back in the game, without success.

Steve Parillon led them in scoring with 27 points. and was again impressive.

Coach Nurse admitted: "We have got to play better than that.

"Steve had a huge game and Corey (Jackson) produced a decent performance but, other than that, we didn't do enough.

"Drew Alleyne and Terrance were both below their best, Ronnie Baker and Danny Hildreth did their thing and Martin Yabsley and Demaija Stewart did not really contribute much.

"We can't have that many guys playing below average.

"Players have got to play to their ability. I told them before the game I believe in you guys'."

Nurse believes McGee's slow start mirrors that made by his predecessor Ryan Huntley last year.

He added: "It took Ryan a few games to realise he could be the best point guard in this league.

"There is no reason why Terrance cannot do that as well.

"He has got the skills, the strength and the speed to do it and I keep telling him that.

"But I told him we can't wait for you man'."

Bears were unable to use new signing Lijah Perkins after an administrative blunder that had Nurse and his assistant Phil Waghorn fuming.

They registered the 6ft 8in Perkins on Wednesday but received a call at 3pm yesterday from England Basketball, who claimed they had been unable to contact their Finnish counterparts to secure international clearance.

Waghorn said: "In the end we put in about 50 calls to Finland ourselves but it was too late. Lijah was there with us at the gym, frustrated as hell."

Lions were also hit by bad luck with Robert Youngblood picking up an injury early in the game.

Bears struggled to contain the Lions inside-outside game as big Shawn Jamison led the home scoring with 22 points, followed by three-point marksman Kevin Griffin with 21.

McGee had 13 points, Jackson 12, helped by three threes in the second quarter, and Alleyne 11 on his old home court.