The dream lives on for Brighton Bears, just about at least, after another tense European night at the Triangle.

Bears went on a late 14-4 run to live up to their unfamiliar tag of ULEB Cup pre-match favourites and see off the Greeks.

Post match acclaim from their fans as Sussex By The Sea blared over the loudspeakers was fitting reward for this first home win in an enthralling Euro campaign.

So too is a highly respectable fourth place in the Group F table.

Now hope of third place will flicker on for another week at least as Bears prepare to fly to Lithuania, a nation where basketball is almost a religion.

Whether they can sneak a win in Vilnius or in the Polish coastal resort of Sopot a week later remains to be seen.

It will take at least one success overseas to set up a home showdown against Cholet with third place and a potential slot in the last 16 up for grabs Results last night were not kind. Cholet, who would have been well within reach had they slipped up at home to Sopot, sneaked home 64-61.

Split's defeat at Lietuvos Rytas suited Nurse's men, but the 103-56 scoreline shows the challenge facing Bears next week, though hopefully they will not endure the travel horrors which saw the Croatians touch down just 45 minutes before tip-off time.

Whether they get third or not, Bears are making a lot of people in the big Euro leagues take notice.

The fact Ionikos, struggling at home and with centre Joe McNaull and guard Justin Hamilton injured, gave nearly as good as they got was a tribute to the strength of their league and the genius of Robert Conley, the man once dubbed Baby Jordan.

Conley kept his side in it with a bewildering array of fall-away shots, one even going in as he tumbled into the crowd.

Despite his efforts, though, the acres of newsprint given over to basketball in the Greek sports press will have defeat to an English side to deal with today, for the first time since Kingston beat Aris 13 years ago.

Before Christmas, Split coach Duro Nenadic faced a barrage of questions from home reporters who felt his side's defeat to Brighton was "shameful." He was sacked soon afterwards.

Last night it was Ionikos chief Mageiras Vangelis with the long face. He admitted: "I am not satisfied at all with my team. I think nobody believed we could beat Brighton tonight.

"They had 20 offensive rebounds in most cases they scored easy baskets.

"We got 20 offensive rebounds but we only scored three or four easy baskets."

In other words, the Greek coach felt Bears wanted it a bit more.

One man in particular was not going to take defeat as an option.

Skipper Randy Duck had one of his finest nights in Bears colours as he made big plays at key times.

He set the tone with two jump shots in the first 47 seconds.

By half-time, he was on 21 points as Bears forged a 47-40 advantage.

When Jason Siemon finished the half with a fabulous dunk, Bears were flying.

Just as they were in Athens until Ionikos scored the first 11 points of the third quarter.

This time the damage was almost as bad, the Greeks going on a 12-2 surge as Bears found the zone defence impossible to fathom.

Yorick Williams lifted them with a three but the real breakthrough came when they got inside for a score as the ever-effective Tom Frederick set up Andrew Alleyne with a nice pass under the basket.

Kendrick Warren, a real force with 15 boards and four blocks, ended the third quarter with a jump shot and we were set for a great finale at 64-64 apiece.

That was when Bears' No. 20 proved Mike Brown is just as big a name as Nikos Papanikolopoulos when it comes to shooting as he fired three threes in just 2mins 21 seconds to answer the Greek star.

Warren had an and-one. Then, after Conley had seen a three-pointer come up short with his side 82-79 adrift and 58 seconds to go, Duck drove at the defence and got the ball to drop off the back board for the crowning moment.