Jerry Williams has revealed how he climbed off his sick bed to help give Genesis Brighton Bears' ailing season a huge shot in the arm.

Bears clinched their play-off berth in style by beating one of the current top three for the first time this season while rivals Plymouth were losing to Sheffield.

They go into their quarter-final at Newcastle on Friday with the pick-me-up of this thoroughly entertaining display, of which Williams' 26 points and all-round contribution was the highlight.

Bears produced steely defence to lead 38-23 at half-time, just about weathered a Rocks storm and came up with offensive plays when they really needed them in what threatened to be a tight finale.

Williams' baseline drive and two-handed dunk forged a seven-point lead in the last minute, seconds after Terrance McGee had drawn an offensive foul by Julius Joseph at the other end.

All this as the unwell Williams finally got advice from the Nurse - Bears coach Nick - for the first time.

Nurse was in charge for the first time since just before Williams signed in late November.

The coach was so incensed by what he saw in Tuesday's defeat to Leicester that he got back involved, though Phil Waghorn clearly had input during the game as well.

It proved to be the perfect remedy for that run of four successive home defeats.

Williams said: "When I first came in the locker room and saw Nick I was like 'hell yeah, let's go out there and play'. It was great having him back.

"We knew he would get in our faces if we didn't play hard, that Phil wouldn't want to do sometimes because he's assistant coach."

But Williams' participation was in doubt until the final moments.

While Nurse came out for the game dressed for business, his top scorer was kitted for an afternoon on South Beach.

He switched to playing strip seconds before tip-off.

Williams revealed: "I had tonsilitis all week. I didn't train. I didn't even know if I was going to play until I warmed up.

"If it hadn't worked I would have just kept those clothes on and watched."

He added: "We knew we had to play hard because we didn't get the job done last week. It was a do-or-die game.

"We beat the second-placed team in the league so we think we can beat anybody if we come out and play hard."

Bears did just that as they went on a 16-1 first-quarter run.

At long last, they defended solidly, moved the ball crisply and looked like a team.

Rocks were kept to two-of-11 three-point shooting in the first half but made seven of 11 in the second.

They were kept scoreless for six minutes immediately before half-time but made their first six shots of the second quarter to get back to 40-38.

That was the first of six occasions when they were within two points, the last of them at 67-65 with 2:37 to play.

But they never got any closer. Williams had ten points in the last eight minutes as his double-act with Steve Parillon kept the scoreboard ticking over.

Williams and Parillon also earned 14 rebounds and nine steals between them.

The game was finally up when Andrew Alleyne picked off a pass beneath his own basket and Bears evaded Rocks' efforts to foul.

Daniel Hildreth was the only one on the casualty list by then, needing strapping and painkillers after dislocating a shoulder when running into a screen set by man-mountain Chris Brown.

That affected the rotation a little but not enough to disguise where Nurse thought Bears had been going wrong in their use of personnel.

Parillon and McGee had full games and Danny Midgley produced 16 minutes of defensive effort and confident ball handling while Demaija Stewart was used sparingly and Martin Yabsley not at all.

Nurse said: "I thought certain guys in our team were making too many defensive mistakes recently.

"I've watched Danny and he knows how to play.

"He is not experienced enough to be a great defender yet but he's better than our other options.

"I think at times he's part of our best five. I thought we looked like a team at both ends tonight.

"We made good decisions for each other and that makes me more happy than anything."