Nick Nurse branded his Brighton Bears a bunch of cry babies after they surrendered their unbeaten record and a golden chance to reach the BBL Trophy final.

Bears were outgunned by their arch rivals and had Rico Alderson ejected from the game as they were brought down to earth in stunning style.

Alderson was arguably Bears' best player, claiming 15 points and 11 rebounds, and did not commit a single foul until the sixth minute of the fourth quarter.

Then it all went wrong. First, his challenge on the hoopbound Shahen Holloway on halfway was deemed unsportsmanlike.

Two minutes later the Bears forward flung an arm out at John O'Connell as the pair tangled near the Towers basket and he was banished from the court.

It was a tough night for the men in grey as, not for the first time, the practice of having three officials for Trophy games seemed to cause more confusion than it solved.

There were times when no one in authority seemed to quite know what was going on, notably when a jump ball was awarded after Towers had failed to beat the shot-clock.

A policy of calling what the Americans call ticky-tacky fouls also caught up with them, ensuring every hint of physical contact had the crowd howling for the whistle.

It did not make for good viewing, but then neither for away fans did the sight of Bears throwing possession away, being out-rebounded 46-37 and missing shots they would normally sink with their eyes closed.

Defeat by less than ten would have kept Bears top of the group on the head-to-head scores. Instead, Towers now need just a win at Thames Valley on Saturday to book a semi-final against Birmingham, currently bottom of the league.

Bears coach Nurse, still chasing a first away win against his former club, could hardly believe what he had seen.

He said: "It was as bad as it could be. We were a bunch of disorganised cry babies.

"There was a complete lack of concentration. We forgot how hard it is to keep winning in sport and when that happens you are going to get beat by 20.

"This is not a friendly place for us but that's our own fault. Everyone wanted to complain but the referees were not one bit of a problem in that game.

"I thought they over-called a lot but they called it the same for both sides. It wasn't why we lost the game."

Nurse did, however, express dissatisfaction with the treatment of Alderson.

He said: "That may have been unfair. On the first one, not only was it not an intentional foul it was also a great basketball play.

"With the second one there was a guy not strong enough to get in there and handle him so he has to throw him out.

"That part is a joke. Randy (Duck) gets a T (technical foul), Ralph (Blalock) gets a T, Rico gets thrown out and their coach is bitching and screaming the whole game.

"There's no excuses from us though. I'm disappointed because we are better than these guys but we had so many poor performances.

"I told them on a score of one to ten we had about four guys not even hitting one."

By contrast, Towers had an inspired night. Theo Dixon who hit four out of five two-pointers and three from three behind the arc and point guard Holloway was four-of-five from three-point range.

Kendrick Warren had 16 boards and was outstanding until seeming to tire late on.

The hosts had a 10-0 run to open a 53-36 half-time lead and the margin was 23 when Terrell Myers hit a three in the third quarter.

Bears were 79-58 down going into the fourth but threw themselves a lifeline with an 11-1 run comprising two Mike Brown threes and five points from Wilbur Johnson.

That brought the margin to 11 and made it interesting again on the head-to-head.

Spirits soared when Warren then missed two free throws, but O'Connell grabbed the subsequent rebound, Myers converted it into three points and Towers were never again in danger.

Towers: Holloway 22, Warren 20, Dixon 17, Myers 13, Younglood 11, Robbins 9, Salter 7, O'Connell 6.

Bears: Davis 27, Alderson 15, Brown 10, Duck 9, Etete 9, Johnson 7, Blalock 5, Seaman 5.