Brighton Bears will forever believe they should have been staging a title celebration when Scottish Rocks head south this weekend.

Not least the man who came closest to taking the British League crown from Yorkshire to Sussex in last weekend's decisive showdown at Sheffield Sharks.

Bears went down 79-77 in a thriller before a packed house and the Sky cameras but not without a battle.

Some Sharks fans feared Ralph Blalock would unleash a three-pointer when he took possession in the last 20 seconds.

Instead he went past Jerry Williams and made progress to the hoop, only to see his shot bounce off the iron work with Wilbur Johnson unable to complete the job.

As the ball ran loose, so the final buzzer sounded, allowing Sheffield to start the celebrations and sports minister Richard Caborn to present them with the BBL silverware.

Bears must win one of two games in the coming weekend to make sure of second place, then look towards their play-off quarter final at the Brighton Centre a week on Sunday, possibly against derby rivals London Towers.

Blalock admitted: "I was going over the Sheffield game for a day or two afterwards.

"We had a lot of opportunities to win the game but I don't know what happened at the end.

"We were focussed but the shots didn't go down. It was a tough loss."

Blalock revealed he never had any intention of trying to end the contest from outside the arc when he took that final possession following Randy Duck's steal off Rob Yanders.

He said: "At first I was just thinking to get the ball to Duck because he was hot, especially in the first half, but we didn't have enough time for that.

"I knew I had won a game like that against Chester already this season and my gut instinct was to keep the ball.

"I was thinking I would take it to the basket and maybe get a foul or make the shot.

"Once I span him (Williams) and got past his shoulder I was thinking 'This is going to overtime' but it didn't happen like that."

Defeat was made all the more sickening for Bears because they looked to have masterminded the perfect hold-up.

With the weight of expectation lifted from their shoulders, they headed north as a close knit outfit, with no distractions and a clearly thought out plan and ready to play on the nerves of the home side.

They knew that, if they could stay in the game until the closing stages, then make a run, home players and fans would get anxious and they would have the chance to pinch glory.

The chance duly came but they did not take it.

True, their 3.20pm arrival time was slightly later than planned, though it still meant an early departure, not least for Rico Alderson, who had been undergoing treatment until 2am on a facial gash suffered against Milton Keynes the previous evening, A few waiting fans were just starting to glance at their watches when the visitors marched through a back entrance at Ponds Forge and strode purposefully across the foyer towards the main arena.

Leading the party was Sterling Davis, looking straight ahead with a glare that said: "We mean business."

It all worked to a tee until those 164 scoreless seconds at the end of the game which cost Bears the title.

As they emerged from the changing room and headed to the refuge of the team bus, Davis admitted he could not believe what had happened.

He said: "There's no worse feeling than to be second when you had the chance to be first.

"It has been a pretty good season but right now it's hard to remember that because you had an opportunity and it didn't happen for you."

Asked if he could sense nerves creeping in when Sheffield's ten point-lead was wiped out, he said: "I wasn't really paying attention to what they were doing.

"We had to make some stops and some big plays and we didn't come up with them at the end."

Now Blalock, a play-off champion against the odds with Leicester two years ago, is convinced his team can make a serious push for post season honours.

He said: "We have been trying to get all our little niggles out of the way ready for the play-offs.

"I'm getting better. I've had niggles all season long. My toe, my calf and now my elbow. I'm banged up all over the place.

"We will be looking to tune-up for the play-offs this weekend and then handle things there."

It could eventually come down to another tussle with the Sharks. But don't even think about that just yet.