Nick Nurse admits his Brighton Bears cannot win the BBL southern conference.

Now he is demanding his men bounce back from three successive defeats as they go to Leopards in the league tonight from 7.30pm.

Bears lost at Birmingham and Sheffield at the weekend and coach Nurse said: "I did not think we deserved to win either game.

"We have got guys not playing to their best and we are not good enough to overcome that.

"We have got our backs against the wall now and that has not happened too much to us this season. It's all over for us now as far as finishing top is concerned but we would love to get that second spot.

"That would be a hell of an accomplishment for this organisation."

Nurse believes five teams are competing for three play-off spots and Leopards look to be coming into good form.

They scored a superb win at Chester on Saturday and were unlucky to lose by a point at London Towers the following night.

They have gone down four times to Brighton this season and their coach Chris Pullem is desperate to put one over his old club.

Pullem said: "We have struggled against them all year so this is a big hurdle for us to overcome.

"I wouldn't read too much into their three straight defeats. They play hard and will pull it together.

"If we don't win tonight we can totally forget about second place."