London United played hosts to BBL side Brighton Bears in the BBL Trophy on Friday night at Osterley.

In United's first game in this competition they were determined to put on a good show for the EBL Clubs reputation and started brightly keeping pace with the South Coast team as Brighton guard Terence McGee scored 10 first quarter points to help Brighton into a 24-27 lead.

However United had other ideas and with the 2nd quarter introduction of Pete Deppisch he found space to nail 6 successive three point shots helping him to score 23 2nd quarter points and to give London the lead at the half 58-53.

It was the continual offensive threat from McGee that kept Brighton close as he nailed 14 of his own. Eventhough 4 of those came from the foul line after a very strange foul and technical given after an offensive charge by Santa Ataha.

United kept up the intensity in the third quarter and stretched the lead out to 8 points through Machnyia, Deppisch and Ataha although Baker and Yabsley managed to keep Brighton close. London took a narrow 4 point lead into the last quarter and until the 3rd minute maintained their lead until Brighton stepped up their defensive work giving United a tough time to create opportunities.

Brighton went on a 17 point unanswered run giving them control of the game and the away win they came for, leaving United disappointed at not being able to hold onto the lead they worked so hard for throughout, only being able to score 5 points to Brighton's 22 in the final quarter.

Notable performances for London were from Deppisch fro some incredible long range shooting, Reid for his work on the boards and Van Elswyk for his strong forward play, Ataha and Machnyia controlled the team well with strong performances.

Final scored 89-102 United's scorers - Deppisch 29, Reid 18, Machnyia 16, Ataha 14 and Van Elswyk 13 game high from Brighton's Terence McGee with 31.