Yorick Williams had called for defensive intensity and he got all the graft he wanted as Bears headed to their fourth major final in two years.

Skipper Williams led the scoring with 20 points as Bears battled their way past Milton Keynes in yesterday's BBL Cup semi final at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.

That, though, was only half the story from a contest they led by as many as 21 points before easing off against a Lions side missing key big-man Shawn Jamison through a knee injury.

In Jamison's absence, Bears dominated inside, taking four offensive rebounds in the first two minutes and dominating the boards 52-41, led by double-doubles from Tony Holley and Andrew Alleyne.

They also held Lions to just 24 first-half points as they clinched a final against Scottish Rocks - who suprisingly beat Chester Jets - at Birmingham's NIA on January 16.

Williams had been critical of his team's defensive effort.

This time, though, he said: "I'm happy with that. We matched them in the first quarter basket for basket and got the feel of them. I'm very happy with the lads.

"From Steve Lepore guarding Brett Longpre, defending the post and denying them on the wings, I thought the chemistry was right.

"The offence worked itself out and that started from going inside to the big fellas. If it wasn't for the big fellas we wouldn't have got the win."

In Jamison's absence, Lions' main victory hope was Longpre's three-point shooting but he was held to four successes from 11 attempts while Bears shot eight of 23 from behind the arc.

Coach Nick Nurse admitted that work near their own basket was the foundation for this 15th successive win over Milton Keynes. He said: "We started pressing them and jarring the ball loose and got our running game going and then other things started to happen.

"For 12 or 13 minutes our defence was really good in and out. We played two pretty good quarters. The first was okay but we couldn't get the ball to go in."

Actually that first period didn't look too clever from the sidelines with poor shooting as much to blame as gritty defence as the teams shared just 22 points.

Lions added the first six of the second period for their biggest lead but it was all Bears from then on.

Holley had 12 second-quarter points, getting to work inside and adding a three for good measure.

Alleyne scored nine in the period and Williams added spark with unlikely blocks to thwart Dru Spinks and Ishua Benjamin.

When Alleyne's put-back obligingly dropped in on the half time buzzer, Bears were 38-24 ahead and in charge.

Alberto Jempierre, who strove manfully to fill Jamison's void, came up with a great move to reduce the arrears to 44-36 but Bears' riposte was emphatic as Williams and Lepore twice hit threes.

Ryan Huntley closed the period for Bears by drawing contact from Spinks as he banked home a shot for a three-point play, though there was still time for Robert Youngblood to reply on the buzzer.

Youngblood had a stormer for Lions but, having been beaten by Brighton in semis at Ponds Forge playing for Towers in the previous two seasons, he could not avert an unwanted hat-trick as Bears maintained their double figure lead throughout the final period.