Top scorer Jerry Williams has called for more fourth-quarter responsibility as he hopes for a late run to the play-offs.

Williams was shocked to be taken out of the final session as Genesis Brighton Bears' up-and-down season hit another trough.

The British League's leading marksman was clearly not amused to be on the bench while Guildford Heat moved towards their fourth win in a row.

An untidy, though undeniably exciting, game, in which Bears always seemed to be slightly off the pace, was decided 50 seconds from the end when Rod Wellington hit a tough three-pointer as the shot clock expired to ease Heat into a 89-83 lead.

Bears had sneaked into a couple of narrow, short-lived leads, the last of them on the back of two free throws from Demaija Stewart to open the fourth quarter.

But, for the second successive home game, they failed to make a second half three-pointer, following last week's none-for-ten nightmare against Chester with eight straight misses this time.

With Brian Dux a cool controller in the back court and Ajou Deng having a field day close in, Heat always seemed to have the edge.

Williams did not exactly fire a broadside at his coach.

He spoke calmly and was wisely guarded in his comments but the frustration was obvious.

He admitted: "I don't think the best players were on court at the time it was needed.

"Phil took me out with 8:00 to go in the fourth until 4:05 to go. That's ridiculous.

"I shot the ball four times in the fourth quarter. I was hot.

"If I'm making shots I want the ball. But I'm not selfish. Other times I'll score maybe 12 points because someone else is hot and they get the ball.

"We can still make sixth or seventh place because other teams are losing as well but we need to get out of this win one lose one' run.

"It might go to the last game to get to the play-offs."

Bears need to follow the example of Guildford, who are suddenly riding a wave of euphoria and have stitched together four wins in a row to spark hopes of a top-four finish.

Such dizzy heights are now beyond Brighton after a weekend from which they really needed two wins.

They might end up with a play-off trip to Newcastle or Scotland, if they get to the post-season at all.

Bears' full-court press got them back within three points going into the last minute and they seemed to be doing a good job defensively on that key Heat possession until Wellington's prayer was answered.

Coming from the worst three-point shooting team in the league, that was tough to take.

Waghorn said: "Credit to them, they made some big plays.

"But I felt we were hanging on the whole time.

"We still had chances down the stretch and should have made better decisions.

"But that's probably a reflection of where we are at as a team. I was never really that happy with the way we were playing."

A good following from Guildford swelled the crowd on what, scandalously, was the only Saturday night league game Bears will stage at their premier venue for at least 18 months.

The last was a win over Sheffield almost a year ago, the next will be next season.

Despite Williams' big haul and double-doubles for Steve Parillon and Andrew Alleyne, none of Bears' big four really took the game over.

Williams added: "In the first half we didn't play defence. They didn't either. It was 49-48 and that's way too many points in a half.

"We locked down a little in the second half but we missed some key rebounds and transition points."

Heat had an 8-0 run early in the third quarter and, though Bears replied with the help of a solid shift off the bench from Martin Yabsley, they only led for another 18 seconds the rest of the way.

Bears lost 90-78 away to Plymouth Raiders yesterday.

The hosts led 44-42 at the interval, then broke the match open with a superb third quarter. A 26-17 period saw Gary Stronach's men take an 11-point lead into the final quarter.

The Bears battled hard with Williams scoring a game-high 27 but could not close the gap on Plymouth.