The Bears finally chalked up their first home win at the seventh attempt beating Milton Keynes by 82 points to 78.

But coach Mark Dunning complained: "I'm still not satisfied."

Brighton overturned a five point deficit in the fourth quarter before pulling clear to delight their long-suffering fans at the Triangle in Burgess Hill.

It was only their third victory of the season and Dunning was right when he said his side had played far better in earlier games and lost.

"I'm happy that we've won and so are the players, but I'm still not satisfied," he said. "We have played a lot better this season and ended up getting beaten.

"The players know that. They are happy that we have won but understand that there is still a lot of work ahead.

"But it does give us a little springboard. We have to take things on from here and start getting more consistent.

"Last weekend we were so low and the only way I know to work things out is on the practice floor and we did that. I still feel if we get some more wins we can achieve our goal and make the play-offs."

What must have satisfied Dunning more than anything was that victory was achieved despite a negligible contribution from forward Dave Wahl who has been one of their most consistent performers in his rookie season in the league.

The Canadian has averaged a respectable 14 points and nine rebounds per game, but on Saturday didn't find the basket once and spent most of the match watching in frustration from the bench.

Wahl had an off night, but it gave an extended opportunity to Errol Seaman and he seemed to relish the physical battle against Bears' big rebounders Jason Siemon and Andrew Alleyne.

"Dave didn't have a good game but the other guys like Errol and Danny Hildreth stepped up which was important," added Dunning.

It was a gutsy rather than cohesive performance from Bears who were at their most ragged in the first quarter when they conceded seven fouls, enabling Lions to take advantage from the free-throw line and open up an 25-18 lead.

A 9-2 run at the start of the second period extended the visitors' advantage to 14 points and most Bears fans must have feared the worst at that stage as their side left far too many opponents with free shots and missed a succession of easy lay-ups.

Dunning called a time out midway through the second period and his words seemed to have the desired effect. An 8-0 burst cut the deficit and although Merrill Brunson struck twice from long range Bears turned round facing only a six point deficit.

Lions kept their opponents at arm's length during the third quarter, which the home side won 20-19, but they could not respond when Kevin Wallace single-handedly levelled the scores at the start of the fourth period with five unanswered points.

When Lions' coach Martin Ford called a time out with just over five minutes left, Bears' skipper Michael Brown had just put his side in front for the first time since the seventh minute with his fourth three-pointer and the crowd had found their voice. Suddenly the momentum was with Brighton and they were in no mood to ease off.

Brown, who will have enjoyed putting one over his old club, sunk another three-pointer to give his side breathing space and Lions were forced to concede four fouls in the final minute in a desperate attempt to upset Bears' rhythm.

Siemons briefly gave them hope by cutting the lead to three with 22 seconds on the clock, but another foul by Victor Payne enabled Wallace to shoot one from the free throw line with seven seconds remaining and make sure a boisterous crowd of 500 went home happy.

SCORERS
Bears: Michael Brown 23, Kevin Wallace 23, Demetric Reese 18, Wilbur Johnson 15, Daniel Hildreth 3.

Lions: Jason Siemon 27, Merrill Brunson 20, Victor Payne 10, Andrew Alleyne 10, Nigel Lloyd 10, Ben Knight 1.