Jerry Williams has revealed how the old Scottish Rocks connection helped persuade him to try his luck in Brighton.

Williams and his former Rocks sidekick Terrance McGee will be key men for Genesis Brighton Bears as they tackle the toughest road trip in the British League this weekend.

Bears go to title favourites Newcastle Eages tonight and visit leaders Rocks on Sunday.

Tonight's visit to Tyneside is a chance to improve on a 27-point mauling when they last tackled the Eagles a fortnight ago.

And Sunday's contest will have special significance for Williams and McGee as they take on their old club and the man who took them north of the border, former Bears assistant coach Steve Swanson.

Williams, who was named top player in the BBL in his season in Scotland, has had a positive impact on the Bears Bears pair are rocking for the journey north team, not least point guard McGee, since signing three weeks ago.

But he admits he almost wrote off this season after being released by Dijon recently.

He said: "I thought about the move (to Brighton) for a long time, about two or three weeks.

"I wasn't going to play again this season but I knew me and Terrance got on well. He's a great guy to be around.

"I thought I'd come over here and give it a shot and I've been happy since I've been here.

"Terrance had a big part in me coming. If he wasn't here I don't know that I would be."

Williams ranks the Bears playmaker as one of his best basketball mates, along with London Towers duo Lynard Stewart and Niki Arinze and former Sheffield star Rob Yanders, who will be running the point for Rocks on Sunday.

He said: "It always makes a difference when you go somewhere new and there's a familar face there, especially when it's a point guard who you have played with before.

"You know what he likes doing, he knows what you like doing."

Williams and McGee teamed up for 29 points in a stunning 72-61 win for Rocks at the Triangle to delay Bears' title celebrations two seasons ago.

McGee still rates that as his most memorable match and expects to return to that sort of form with Williams taking more of the scoring load.

Although still troubled by excessive turnovers, McGee's shooting percentages have improved in the last three games, probably because he is putting up less attempts.

He said: "I'm starting to relax. I was stressing early on as you can see from my stats.

"My shot wasn't falling but I'm having fun now.

"Having Jerry here makes me look at things differently. As a point guard my job is to get everybody involved but over here all people look at is scoring.

"In the States they look at how you run your team.

"In the beginning I got too caught up trying to score instead of leading my team.

"I'll get my buckets where I can but everybody on our team is scoring.

"Jerry doesn't just bring points. He brings rebounds, he brings intensity, he brings defence and we need those things."

If it comes down to hard work, Williams backs his mate from Milwaukee to get things right.

He said: "Terrance has the will to get better.

"He still has that hunger that most guys lose after a certain time.

"Every day in the morning he wakes me up to go shoot with him and work against him to make him better.

"He's inspiring to me," he said before adding with a laugh: "But he doesn't know that so don't tell him."

Bears appear to have given up on Brixton shooting guard Marcus Knight and fly north today with eight players to take on an Eagles team targeting a clean sweep after winning the BBL Cup.

It looks a testing trip for Bears but McGee believes they should be relishing it.

He said: "It's tough but it's also exciting. "We get to play two top teams in the league and we've got a chance to knock them off and also to open up the race.

"I think it's pretty close in the league from third place down. If we get these two wins that will be big.

"It's an opportunity for us to get third in the league going into the Christmas break. Who wouldn't be excited about that?"