Nick Nurse heaped praise on his Brighton Bears as they finished a gruelling four-day programme in Portugal on a high last night.

Bears played their best stuff of the tour, especially defensively, to blast Benfica 96-75 and claimed third place in the Aveiro International Torunament.

It was their fourth game since Thursday night and left Nurse's men tired but delighted at the end of a first tough week of preparation for the BBL season.

Coach Nurse saw his men claim a decisive second win of the tour and said: "We've got to be happy to get that kind of effort after playing four days in a row.

"Benfica are a good team and to beat them like that on the road is a real credit.

"Our defence was solid which I'm really happy about and our offence seems to be really composed. We did not seem to be forced into taking too many tough shots."

He added: "The players are absolutely worn out but you've got guys like Randy Duck who wants to play the whole game and finish the job and that rubs off on the rest of them."

Wilbur Johnson completed an outstanding tour with 19 points and eight rebounds and has become something of a favourite with fans here but there were creditable performances all the way through the 8-man squad.

Bears led 24-19 at the quarter and 50-45 at the half, with only the quick silver skills of point guard Antonio Tavares helping Benfica back from a 15 point deficit.

The lead was extended with a 10-2 run at the start of the third quarter and two three-points plays from Sterling Davis helped forge a 74-46 advantage by the final interval.

Emiko Etete grabbed seven final quarter points, Duck and Ralph Blalock both hit threes and Errol Seaman rounded things off from the line.

Nurse also took heart from the 105-92 defeat to impressive Ovarense in Saturday's semi-final.

Bears were outgunned by opponents who shot the ball well and had formidable physical presence around the basket, most notably in the shape of 7ft John Tomsich.

For Brighton, new signing Blalock started to show the ball skills which have made him one of the most respected guards in the British league.

Bears led 31-25 after an encouraging first quarter in which Davis hit 10 points but fell behind in a stormy second period. They leaked 17 points in the opening five minutes of the second and Nurse picked up a technical foul for his protests after Davis had been flattened while setting a screen.

Ovarense led 57-48 at the half and extended the advantage by one and three points respectively in the final two periods.

They generally looked the more classy outfit but Davis and Johnson in particular kept battling hard, the former hitting five three pointers.

Nurse said: "We don't like the score but we were up against a good team who play in Europe and there were plenty of positives to come out of it."

Scorers (v Ovarense): Davis 32, Johnson 22, Duck 17, Blalock 15, Brown 4, Etete 2.

Scorers (v Benfica): Johnson 19, Duck 18, Davis 16, Blackwell 13, Blalock 11, Seaman 8, Etete 7, Brown 4.