Nick Nurse has urged his Brighton Bears to show their courage and bounce back from the hammer blow of BBL Trophy elimination.

Bears crashed 83-76 to Thames Valley Tigers at the Brighton Centre in a match they appeared to be controlling until the last two minutes.

The result cost them a tie with Birmingham in the last four and sends them into Saturday's cup semi-final against London Towers with morale low after three defeats.

Bears hit just 35 per cent of their shots in open play and coach Nurse admitted they had wasted a golden chance.

He said: "The guys are devastated. We did a bad job of grinding it out but we tried hard, we gave a great effort and it didn't go our way. It happens, sometimes you get beat.

"We haven't responded well to losing our unbeaten record but we have a heck of a chance to do that this weekend. This is a true test of our courage."

Nurse was unhappy at the poor spectacle for a crowd of 2,500, many of them attending their first match as part of Bears' community ventures.

The match was punctuated by 39 fouls and 56 free throws as the three officials took centre stage. Nurse said: "The entertainment value drops so far you wonder what the heck is going on. It was no fun for anyone to watch."