Nick Nurse admits his Brighton Bears threw away the chance of a piece of history in their ULEB Cup debut.

Bears let slip a nine-point lead inside the last three minutes to lose 87-86 in overtime to KK Split Croatia at the Triangle last night.

Coach Nurse appeared to have masterminded a famous triumph as his side overturned a 13-point deficit to give the talented young Croatians a major scare.

Nurse said: "It was a missed chance, no question about that.

"We should have won and we let it get away.

"We had a couple of guys who were out of gas and I probably should have made one more rotation but things were going so well I didn't want to change it.

"We're still fighting for that third spot, we've just to carve it up a bit different."

Split coach Predrag Kruscic admitted: "We were a little lucky.

"The Bears played very well. They surprised me, especially in the last quarter because they had good physical and mental condition."

Bears had the chances, most of them falling to skipper Randy Duck on a night of extraordinary drama and, free throws apart, high technical ability at the Triangle.

Instead, they were taken to overtime by an ice-cool three-pointer from NBA prospect Drago Pasalic just 21.8 seconds from the end of regulation time.

Then, in a frantic finale to the five extra minutes, Duck's driving lay-up under pressure stayed out and Sullivan Phillips' tip-in was, rightly, adjudged fractionally after the buzzer.

For a few seconds, there was silence among the 1,200 fans as they realised the opening ULEB Cup group F match had gone the way of the visitors.

Then they rose to salute a magnificent effort by the home side.

Split coach Kruscic admitted Bears surprised him. Maybe, after a nervy opening, they surprised themselves.

Bears' top scorer Kendrick Warren certainly hinted at that.

He said: "It was our first European game and they responded better than us is the first quarter.

"Once we got into it we knew we were a better team than were."

Warren was generally a threat when he took the ball to the hoop while a strong case could be made for Andrew Alleyne, Andy Gardiner and Mike Brown having their best games of the season.

It was certainly the type of evening Nurse envisaged when he took Bears into Europe.

Only the final result was missing on opening night in the six-team group.

Nurse said: "We were a better team than them and we didn't win and that's disappointing.

"We've got to go to Greece next week and think we can win. I certianly think we can win."

Split star Tommy Smith, another chasing an NBA deal after being drafted, then released by the Chicago Bulls this summer, was glad to get out with the result.

The 6ft 10in forward said: "I knew it would be a hard game. Even in the NBA you get surprises."

Not that endeavour was lacking on either side in an enthralling encounter.

Having looked out of it when trailing 38-27 with ten seconds to go in the first half, Bears staged a stirring recovery.

Three-pointers from Duck (twice) and Yorick Williams, plus two strong close range finishes by the effective Alleyne, formed a 13-2 run which took them ahead in the third quarter.

It got better. After Hrvoye Orsulic had produced a clever over-the-shoulder flick to edge Split a point up with seven minutes to play, Bears countered with a three from Gardiner, a tough fall away shot by the same player and an amazing spin move from Brown under pressure from two blockers and with just one second left on the shot clock.

Warren's three and two Gardiner free throws made it 72-63 with 2mins 56secs to go and Bears seemed to be there. However, the richly-talented Roko-Leni Ukic and Pasalic, who played on foul trouble throughout, replied from long range.

That left Duck with 21 seconds to run down the clock, but his buzzer-beating three-point attempt was off target.

Overtime was tight and Bears were a point adrift with time running out. Smith saw his potential clincher hit the rim, giving Bears five seconds to put something together.

Duck drove through the key, but the ball would not drop and Split had escaped with the win they always expected to get.

Bears scorers: Warren 22, Gardiner 16, Duck 15, Alleyne 11, Brown 8, Williams 5, Siemon 5, Frederick 3, Phillips 1.

Split scorers: Smith 21, Ukic 15, Orsulic 11, Pasalic 11, Kastropil 8, McCants 7, Peric 6, Rancic 4, Kedzo 4.

Other ULEB Cup Group F results: Lietuvoa Rytas 70 Prokom Trefl 67; Cholet 74 Ionikos NF 72.