Bears are heading to the National Cup semi-finals for the first time in nine years after a powerful second half show at the Brighton Centre last night.

They overturned a three-point half time deficit to convincingly beat a Newcastle Eagles outfit weakened through the departure of key man Niki Arinze with a dislocated shoulder in the second quarter.

The 91-73 victory extends Bears' winning run to nine and sets up a semi-final with arch rivals London Towers at Sheffield next month.

It was hard work but those old staples of defensive graft, strength in depth and some second half fireworks in attack did the trick to the delight of a noisy 2,000 crowd.

Sterling Davis wrapped things up with nine points in the closing minutes as Bears stretched their lead to as many as 25.

There were contributions throughout the side however, notably Mike Brown, whose three three-pointers highlighted his best display of the season.

Nick Nurse, who was presented with his coach-of-the-month award before the tip-off, admitted: "I always thought we would get some stops and some good transition going.

"I think a lot of our guys played below what they can do but we still won and that's encouraging."

Nurse was particularly troubled by his side's failure to penetrate Eagles' zone defence in the early stages.

Bears trailed 15-13 at the end of a scrappy first quarter and their biggest plus was that they were not further behind.

They did not get off the mark until Ralph Blalock struck from three point range 3mins 48sec into the period and another lay-up from the same man was their only additional score in the opening seven minutes.

Their defence at least was up to scratch, especially after the introduction of Brown and Emiko Etete, and their deficit never grew beyond seven points.

Davis produced a dunk to finish Bears' best fast break of the quarter but the shots were not really falling for either side.

League player of the month Arinze missed two free throws for Newcastle, as did Bears' Rico Alderson after the interval, though he did register his side's first points of the second quarter two and a half minutes in.

TJ Walker extended the lead to 23-17 on a fast break but Brown robbed Fab Flournoy for two to spark a 7-2 Bears rally.

They hit the front with 2mins 15sec to go in the quarter as Randy Duck spotted up for two more.

He followed that up from outside the arc but Charles Smith hit six successive Eagle points and a Jerry Hyatt three in the last minute saw the visitors turn round 34-31 ahead.

That lead did not last long. Alderson's put-back sparked the second half in which he played some of his best stuff yet for Bears.

He had eight points in the third quarter as Bears came from four down to lead 55-44 at one stage.

Such was their determination there was a point when Blalock and Davis were both off court and Alderson on the ground as they all chased a loose ball.

Possession was secured and Wilbur Johnson unleashed a three from the left corner to bring the house down.

Hyatt replied in kind but Davis produced a three-point play and Brown struck from the right corner to round off the quarter with Bears leading 58-48.

Three was the magic number at the start of the fourth.

Walker amazingly missed three successive free throws and Brown and Duck struck from behind the arc to make it 64-49 to Bears.

All that was missing then were the end of game rituals of a 20 point lead, an alley-oop and a rendition of the Great Escape theme.

Davis secured the first two of those, the second flying in to convert Brown's lobbed pass, and Nurse was conducting the crowd in their sing-song as Newcastle collected the last few points.

Brighton Bears: Alderson 22, Davis 21, Duck 20, Brown 12, Blalock 9, Etete 4, Johnson 3.

Newcastle Eagles: Walker 26, Smith 13, Hyatt 13, Bridge 7, Arinze 7, Mavis 4, Dotchin 3.

National Cup, quarter-finals: Essex 89 London Towers 100 OT; Teeside 84 Thames Valley 111.