The Harlem Globetrotters dunked their way into Sussex and got Easter off to a flying start to a packed house at the Brighton Centre last night.

Basketball's most famous team took on old adversaries New York Nationals on the last leg of their UK tour and served up all the usual tricks and laughs.

They won, of course, as they have done more than 21,000 times in their colourful history, but they also kept the crowd chuckling from tip to buzzer.

Paul 'Showtime' Gaffney was their playmaker, jester in chief and also the referees' main tormentor.

At one stage he grabbed the trainers off a young fan's feet and hurled them at the officials, all in good fun, naturally.

Drenching the crowd with water, dancing on court with a female spectator and handing an opponent a handbag rather than the ball were also part of his repertoire.

There was some great basketball on view too, such as the outrageous dunks of Michael 'Wild Thing' Wilson and Matthew 'Showbiz' Jackson and some fabulously slick work by the whole team, all to the legendary 'Sweet Georgia Brown' theme tune.

Basketball with a more competitive edge returns to the Brighton Centre on Sunday as Brighton Bears hosts London Towers in a British Leage play-off quarter-final (6pm).