It's back to the drawing board for Bears after a run of four successive home wins was brought to an abrupt halt by sharp-shooting Eagles.

The contest was effectively settled a couple of minutes into the third quarter after a 22-5 run by the visitors helped them build up a 36-point lead.

As both teams ran their benches in the final quarter, Bears rediscovered some pride with bursts of 7-0 and 17-2, enabling them to reduce the arrears against the Trophy finalists.

But there was no disguising the fact that Mark Dunning's men had been outplayed and the coach was understandably annoyed that Bears hadn't made a better fist of things after an encouraging run of five wins in the last six games.

He said: "There weren't many positives and this defeat probably hurts a bit more than a lot of the others because we were on a good run and hoping to continue it, instead we've regressed a little bit."

Inconsistency has plagued Bears all season and, even now, after their best run of the campaign, Dunning admitted he still doesn't know what sort of performance to expect from his side.

He said: "Ten minutes before the game I'm wondering how they are going to play. That's still the case after some good wins and it does make the job of coach difficult.

"Cajoling them and acting as cheerleader is easy, but when you don't really know what to expect from your guys it makes the job of coaching them harder."

Dunning came face to face with Eagles' play-caller Tony Garbelotto for the first time in a competitive match.

The pair have known each other for 13 years and Dunning, the longest serving coach in the BBL, has been something of a mentor to Garboletto for much of that time.

He said: "I have helped Tony a lot and they always say that if your student ends up being a better coach than his teacher you've done your job well "I suppose that's some consolation for me, but the bottom line is that they have got superior players."

With six games to go until the end of the season, several Bears are playing for a contract but not too many will have enhanced their chances after Saturday's performance in front of another four-figure crowd at the Brighton Centre.

Even the normally ebullient Will Johnson was subdued. Perhaps he is having second thoughts about the contract he signed on Thursday for next season.

Bears shot a modest 38 per cent from the floor compared to Eagles' 49 per cent and just 23 per cent from outside the D, while they gifted Eagles 25 points from turnovers. They were sharper off the boards, with Dave Wahl picking off 11 rebounds, but shooting consistently is a problem which has plagued them all season.

Both sides traded baskets at will in the first eight minutes.

But at the end of the first quarter Eagles had edged in front by eight and Donnie Johnson already had 19 points to his name when the game was less than 15 minutes old.

Bears turned round with a 19-point deficit, but any hopes of a fightback were soon ended.

The fans stand up at the start of each half until their side scores its first points, but some were in danger of suffering from cramp until Wahl got their side's first basket nearly three-and-a-half minutes into the second period.

With the game won, Eagles rested Johnson and Tony Windless in the fourth, allowing Brian Ehlers, who finished with a game-high 23 points, to pick off Bears from long range.

In contrast, Bears shot five out of 22 of their three-pointers after Michael Brown had landed two from outside in the opening 90 seconds.

Bears: Wallace 18, Johnson 15, Hildreth 11, Brown 9, Wahl 7, Reese 5, Midgley 4, Brame 4, Seaman 2.

Eagles: Ehlers 23, Johnson 22, Windless 20, Whyte 11, Ogunjimi 8, Walker 5, Miller 2.