Brighton Bears are on course for a crucial trophy showdown at London Leopards after treating the Brighton Centre crowd to another win last night.

Nick Nurse's men only really hit top gear against dogged Derby Storm in a tremendous third quarter in which they scored 30 points and turned a slightly concerning five-point half-time deficit into a comfortable eight-point lead.

The 92-76 Bears triumph, their biggest win for 93 games and more than two years, means victory at suddenly in-form Leopards on Thursday will virtually guarantee a first quarter-final appearance in five seasons.

Coach Nurse admitted his men had taken time to get into their stride but said: "I was pretty calm, thinking things would turn.

"Derby are not nearly as bad as their record suggests but we cranked it up.

"We were rolling in third gear for a while but we turned it up a gear or two and the game changed fast.

"We stopped them and got a lot of fast break baskets and it was a lot of fun to see our guys play like that."

Sterling Davis again took the honours with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Albert White and Randy Duck made eye-catching contributions but Bears can play a lot better than this.

Derby came into the game on the back of a 35-point mauling by Chester on Saturday which cost them the services of former Bear Daniel Hildreth with a hip injury, but they responded well and led for most of the first half.

Their 6ft.11in centre Tyler Peterson led their first quarter scoring with ten points as they took a 24-17 lead.

Bears had overturned that within 100 seconds of the restart, their 8-0 run featuring a spectacular one-handed slam by White from Mark Jackson's long pass.

Jackson and White also hit huge three-pointers but Bears were guilty of show-boating at times and Derby punished them to open a 46-41 half-time lead.

Nurse clearly had plenty to say at the interval and Bears were a different side in the third period.

Two triples from the left corner by Duck and great work from closer range by Davis, who scored 13 points in the period, took Bears on an 18-2 run which shattered their visitors.

When White struck from three-point range to extend the lead to 15 the game was virtually won with eight minutes still to go, which is a luxury Bears have not enjoyed for an awful long time.

Jackson's triple took the gap to 20 inside the final minute and helped send the fans home happy. Now the travelling supporters hope for more celebrations in Essex this week.

Bears scorers: Davis 27, White 24, Duck 18, Johnson 7, Jackson 6, Brown 6, Seaman 4.

Derby Storm scorers: Peterson 20, Griffin 19, Robinson 17, Miller 12, Kennedy 8.