Bears blasted their old rivals Thames Valley Tigers and gave new signing Rodger Farrington the perfect birthday bonus.

Farrington, 26 yesterday, eased himself in with his new side, as the visitors moved second in the Southern Conference, helped by 15 three-pointers last night.

Albert White led the way with 31 points, though coach Nick Nurse insists there is still room for improvement from his side.

Nurse said: "We are fairly happy but we are not going to get carried away. Thames Valley are struggling at the moment but we have got the potential to be really good and I thought we had a little more flow and made a lot more shots, which always looks good.

"I like our defensive intensity and if the referees had let us play it could have been a 40-point lead at half time."

Instead Bears were 18 up after the first quarter and Farrington's special day was never under threat from that point.

The new signing revealed: "The team said they would get a win as a present for me and I'm glad it worked out."

Bears had started their two previous games slowly, but that was hardly the case this time, as they raced into a 27-11 lead by the end of the first quarter. They hit five three-pointers in that time, including one inside five seconds from White.

Tigers threw star guard Barry Bowman back into the fray after a knee injury, but it was their great new hope, Paul Davies, who offered most resistance.

Farrington also got a first taste of BBL action at the end of the period. It could hardly have come at a better time with his side in control and he introduced himself with a clever pass to send Wilbur Johnson in to score.

Johnson also swatted away a shot from England's Michael Martin as Bears dominated all aspects of the quarter.

Johnson stretched the lead to 18 straight after the re-start, although Bears had a rocky spell midway through the quarter, not helped by some hotly-contested calls beneath their own basket.

Shawn Jamison did most of the damage as the lead was cut to ten.

White replied with a three, then when he missed with another attempt, Mike Brown took the rebound, dribbled back behind the arc and hit a long ranger of his own.

The quarter also brought Farrington's first points in this country. His strike and another from Mark Jackson meant five of the visitors had hit three pointers.

White though was the star of the half, leading a 10-2 run and contributing 15 points as Bears turned round with a 51-36 lead and the possibility of foul trouble their main concern.

It was shoot out time when the players re-emerged as Bears pushed their lead out to 20.

White hit two triples and another three point play when he was fouled by Greg Meldrum whilst scoring.

Meldrum hit Tigers' first two triples of the night but, when Brown replied in kind, his side were 68-48 in the clear.

Tigers immediately halved that deficit with their best run of the night, while Johnson went to the bench on four fouls, but White's turnaround jump shot made it 79-58 at the final interval.

Randy Duck opened the final quarter with another three and the closest Tigers got to their visitors was a 14-point margin.

Bears had all four bench men on court for the final stages, including Errol Seaman, who completed the three point blitz.

Johnson returned with some spectacular contributions close to the basket as Bears comprehensively completed their third win in a week.

Thames Valley Tigers: Meldrum 16, Jamison 15, Davies 14, Martin 11, Robinson 7, Bowman 7, Burks 4, Gottfried 2.

Bears: White 31, Johnson 16, Davis 16, Brown 15, Duck 10, Farrington 3, Jackson 3, Seaman 3.