Brighton skipper Randy Duck has been told his injury worries can help make him a more complete player.

Bears' star point guard may be rested in Sunday's home Trophy tie with Derby at the Brighton Centre (5pm) as he struggles with an ankle problem.

Victory would put Bears firmly on course for the last eight ahead of next Thursday's trip to London Leopards.

Duck struggled through 40 minutes in last week's thriller with Milton Keynes but coach Nick Nurse said: "I'm leaning towards resting him this week.

"Hopefully that will help it heal up. It's more than a sprain, I think there are stretched ligaments as well.

"He strapped it up and got through the game last week and I thought he played a much better floor game.

"He is a super athlete and sometimes he relies on that too much. Last week he was grounded and he really had to think about his game."

Resting Duck would set-up a showdown between Mark Jackson and the man he replaced in the Bears squad, Daniel Hildreth.

The move north has given Hildreth the court time he craved at Bears. He is averaging 34 minutes and seven points per game.

Derby have won just once this season but have come within two points of upsetting Sheffield and Leicester.

They also have the third top marksman in the country in small forward Kevin Griffin, with 22 points per game.

Bears' Sterling Davis has moved into second spot in the southern all-star rankings.

Albert White is seventh, Wilbur Johnson 11th and Duck 16th. Davis said: "Everybody is contributing. If we keep doing that we will be a hard team to beat."

Worthing Thunder are into the quarter-finals of the NBL Trophy and will start favourites in tomorrow's home tie with Coventry (8pm).

Gary Smith's men won a tough league game 111-104 at Coventry two weeks ago. Smith has a doubt over small forward Mark Vingoe (foot).