Basketball: Rocks bid farewell to Wall by taming Bears

The Scottish Rocks gave their outgoing coach, Kevin Wall, a farewell present at Birmingham's NIA last night when the underdogs beat Brighton Bears 83-76 in the play-off final.

Wall, who is returning to America and retiring from coaching, saw his players take control in the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run to lead 77-70. The Bears scored only eight points in the final quarter, including four free-throws.

Brighton and the Rocks survived two scrappy semis on Sunday, the Bears beating Newcastle Eagles 88-83 in a game in which all 12 scorers were from America. Only three Englishmen set foot on the floor as Brighton's Bud Johnson and Errol Seaman and Eagle's Ian Whyte played for a combined total of 2min 17sec

The Rocks exposed Sheffield's play-off jitters, outscoring them 7-0 over the final three minutes with Ted Berry hitting the winning basket one second from time for a 76-74 win.

Berry the Rocks playmaker, limped his way through last night's final but hit the three-pointer which gave the Glasgow based club the 77-70 lead and put them on their way to the franchise's first title.