It was a comfortable first game of the season for the Pertemps Bullets Birmingham, who defeated the Brighton Bears 119-97 at Aston Villa. 

After an early Bears' lead, the  Bullets hit back with a 20-2 run and never looked back. Bears trimmed the deficit to four points at half time (49-45), but it was not enough to trouble the home side. 

New signing  and captain, Chris Watson, impressed on his Bulletsdebut with a game-high 26 points, as well as  16 rebounds and 6 assists. 

Brighton's Wilbur Johnson notched 23 points for his new club, Wallace and Wahl adding 21