Tony Holley today prepared for his battle of the boards and declared: "I'm afraid of nobody."

The Brighton Bears big man goes head-to-head with Terrence Durham, statistically the best rebounder in the country, when Plymouth Raiders visit in the BBL Trophy tomorrow.

It is a game Bears must win, preferably by a decent margin, to remain on course for a semi-final place following last week's 80-72 embarrassment at Thames Valley Tigers.

Holley will be central to those hopes as he and Durham go head to head.

Durham averages 15 boards per game and leads the league in rebounds at both ends of the court.

Despite a quiet night in Scotland last night, Holley is virtually averaging a double-double when league, cup and trophy are taken into account with 190 points and 147 rebounds in 15 starts.

Which is why there are no fears about meeting a Plymouth side who showed in a cup tie at the Triangle earlier this season that they relish a physical battle.

The 27-year-old, from Florida, said: "Durham has been rebounding really well but I'm not worried about anybody. I just get my blueprint from Nick (Nurse) and go out and do what I have to do.

"Maybe Durham got the better of us in that first game but we were still trying to find ourselves. We're a totally different team now.

"Myself and Drew (Alleyne) and Ajou (Deng) are really coming together defensively and rebounding-wise."

Nurse accused his men of over-confidence in last week's defeat at Thames Valley.

That result means Bears need to beat Plymouth home and away to go through, providing Raiders win their home game with Thames Valley.

Should Tigers be successful in Devon, one win against Plymouth would do for Bears, providing they outscore the Raiders on aggregate.

Holley insists motivation will not be a problem this time. He said: "We've got good players and we've always looked forward to proving that on game night.

"Last Saturday was the first time we felt someone would just give us something.

"Maybe part of the problem was knowing they had to beat us by 25 to make a significant contribution to the Trophy.

"Now we've got to win both games and maybe that's better for us because it keeps us ready.

"With the players we've got, we know we will get every team's best game. We can't afford to take any nights off."

Holley was a member of the Thames Valley team which ended Bears' Trophy hopes in 2002 with a win at the Brighton Centre.

He is not the first one to realise every match is important with Nurse's Bears.

Tomorrow's game will be the 163rd since Nurse took over as coach and in only three of them have Bears taken to the court knowing they had no chance of winning or progressing in the competition in which they were playing.

Two of those came at the end of the 2002/03 league season, when Sheffield had already clinched the title, and a third was at the end of their ULEB Cup campaign.

Throw in the three league games last season when the title had been won and that makes six dead games in all.

Radhi Knapp, a 26-year-old forward from Toronto who has a British passport, is the latest to join the excitement and was close to a double-double last night.

Knapp initially tried his luck with Trier in Germany but was injured on the first day of his trial and decided to look for work in England.

He said: "I hope to bring rebounding, a little bit of toughness and another big body off the bench."

Holley and his sidekicks will welcome that.