Nick Nurse today insisted his big men can improve on their nightmare British League debut.

Lijah Perkins and Dennis Carr both got court time as Genesis Brighton Bears crashed 82-69 at Leicester Riders on Saturday.

Bears destroyers in chief were two of their former players, Ryan Huntley and Tony Holley.

The pair hit 14 points apiece with Huntley adding 11 assists and Holley collecting 13 rebounds.

Nurse felt the front court battle was where Bears lost the game. The head coach said: We were physically intimidated. They out-rebounded us and pushed us around.

It wasnt a very pleasant experience. They were too big and strong for us.

But its still early for our two new guys. It was good to get them on the floor when we had chance but they can do better than that.

Bears were held to eight points in the second quarter and changed ends with a 47-26 deficit.

They opened the third quarter with 11 unanswered points to make it 49-37 but could never cut the deficit to single figures.

Three-pointers for Huntley and former Worthing Bear Joel Burns at the start of the fourth quarter killed the contest and Riders eased off in the last few minutes.

Burns led the scoring with 19 points while, for Bears, Steve Parillon had 17, Andrew Alleyne 15 and Corey Jackson.

Bears now face a tough week on the practice court ahead of their banana skin of a BBL Trophy tie at neighbours Worthing Thunder next Saturday.

Thunder also have room for improvement after a demoralising 100-82 home reverse to Reading Rockets in the National Trophy.

They were 47-43 adrift at the half and were then outscored 27-13 in the third quarter by a Reading team who hardly missed a shot in that time.

Thunder made just seven of 27 three-point attempts and struggled to get to the free throw line.

Steve Gayle was their only player to attempt any free throws, going seven-of-11.

Foul trouble for big Pat Bates further hampered them, though he managed 12 points and seven boards in his 15 minutes of court time.

Gayle hit 20 points, Steve Vear added 16 and Jon Woods had 15 points and 11 rebounds. But new American guard Alfredo Ott had a poor night, managing just nine points.

Thunder bounced back in the National Cup yesterday, winning 98-62 at London Capitals as Woods hit 23 points and 15 boards.

Gayle and Rani Malik added 18 apiece and Ott 15 as Thunder clinched a home tie in the next round, probably against Reading.