Ronnie Baker was supposed to be back on the south coast as emergency cover or to provide a spark off the bench.

Try telling the veteran England playmaker that after he stole the show at Ponds Forge last night.

Baker was the best of a very good Bears bunch as they completed a seventh successive win over Sheffield Sharks and moved above them into second place in the British League.

Bears rediscovered their defensive steel just in time to go on a decisive 16-0 run and stun a home crowd who were bracing themselves for a thrilling finale when Rob Yanders dragged the hosts level with a three-pointer four minutes from the end.

That made the score 73-73 but Baker replied immediately by driving at the heart of the home defence to restore his team's advantage, then grab a defensive rebound from among the giants to send Steve Lepore away for a three-pointer.

Former Bears' star Sterling Davis missed two free throws, Baker converted two of his own and, when Yorick Williams fired a three as he was flattened by Davis, the advantage was into double figures.

Baker then ran down the clock and sent the ball out to Lepore in the left corner for the three-pointer which settled the contest at 86-73 with 65 seconds to play.

Bears' coach Nick Nurse was suitably delighted and put the result down to that renewed defensive organisation. He said: "We had three stretches of the game where our defence was poor but we buckled down and made some key plays.

"The key was a really good stretch of defence in the fourth quarter. It was a tough game to manage because they were playing a small line-up but we came through it."

Nurse paid tribute to Baker's contribution and also highlighted the work of his big men, who dominated the rebound count against a home team missing American big man Oliver Morton.

He added: "Ronnie and Tony Holley played with me in Manchester five years ago and they are playing a hell of a lot better now than they did then.

"We knew Ronnie knew a lot of our stuff because he had played for me before but he controlled things and came up with some big-time plays."

It may have lacked a tense finale but last night's contest was a fiercely-fought, physical affair and all the more enjoyable for it.

Bears led for most of the first half, the lead peaking at six points on three separate occasions.

The last of those was in the final minute of the half when Baker, coming off the bench, set up Holley and Williams for back-to-back threes to open a 41-35 advantage.

Sharks got back to 42-39 at the half as Yanders produced a driving lay-up on the buzzer as part of his triple-double.

Davis, having a great season in south Yorkshire after last winter's frustration, found himself benched midway through the second quarter when Ajou Deng's fake drew a third foul and set up a three-point play.

Davis was more prominent as Sharks staged a 10-2 third-quarter onslaught to lead 53-51 and really bring their supporters into the game.

Nate Reinking had two quick threes in the rockiest of those defensive patches to which Nurse referred after the game but Bears' big men got to work and Andrew Alleyne and Holley carved a 62-58 lead going into the final period.

Davis had six successive Sheffield points early in the fourth quarter, working a nice pick-and-roll to tie it up at 66-66 going into the last eight minutes.

Deng, though, then found Baker all alone and the point-guard's first three-pointer in a Brighton vest restored the lead.