Yorick Williams is facing a race against time to be fit for Brighton Bears' BBL Trophy final.

But anyone expecting his coach Nick Nurse to run up the white flag ahead of another key weekend in the British League title race can forget it.

Williams was initially only ruled out of tomorrow's home game with Milton Keynes Lions at the Triangle (7pm) and Sunday's trek to Plymouth Raiders (4pm).

Now he has now been told his ankle injury could sideline him for several weeks.

A three-week lay-off is believed to be the best-case scenario, though further examinations were taking place today.

Nurse said: "Yorick has ankle ligament damage and they think he has chipped a bone. We will know more before the weekend.

"With him and Ryan (Huntley) out injured I've lost 35 points per game in the space of ten days but I certainly don't think the title race is over.

"It will be harder. The problem is I don't think anybody else will step up and beat Chester for us."

In theory, Bears do not need help. Win the rest of their games, beating Chester home and away, and the title will stay in Sussex.

That is a very tall order, though, with 19 games to play, including two apiece against London Towers and Newcastle.

Both this weekend's opponents have given Bears problems already this season and the trip to Devon as the second leg of a double-header weekend looks particularly hazardous.

New guard Cheyne Gadson plays tomorrow as part of Bears' sixth different starting five this season while Williams' absence will put more onus on Steve Lepore to provide a three-point threat.

Lepore has drawn a blank from long range in four of the last seven games and has shot at 20 per cent from the arc in that time.

He had two threes in the closing stages at Sheffield, however, and there is every reason to suspect his textbook high-arcing shot will be back on beam before long.

As well as running the point, Gadson showed signs against Chester Jets last Saturday of having the skills to operate as a shooting guard.

That would give Bears the option of a smaller, lightning fast line-up and lead to more court time for Ronnie Baker, who, arguably, was under-used against Chester.

Nurse said: "That is definitely something we will look at, especially with Yorick out."

Bears will be under orders to tighten up defensively after conceding 50 first-half points for the first time this season when Chester visited.

Even Andrew Alleyne, who had a near-perfect night offensively, admitted to lapses at the other end.

Alleyne, who converted 12 of 16 field goal attempts as well as sinking all nine of his free throws, came clean after Shaun Myers dragged Chester back into the game late on.

He said: "Myers was my man. That was one of our defensive breakdowns."

Nurse, though, added: "It's a collective thing. Players need to deny their main scorers the ball.

"We did a poor job of recognising who was killing us. Myers shouldn't have even got the ball.

"This is another big weekend for us. Tony Holley said teams are lining up to try to beat us and he was right.

"Maybe the fear factor has gone. We'll have to build it up again.

"Milton Keynes will give us a hard game and we will have to play well to win at Plymouth. They play tough and get a good crowd."