12.1.2018: City of Edinburg - Sony Centre Fury 89:68
FURY TITLE BLOW IN LOSS TO KINGS
SONY CENTRE FURY 68 EDINBURGH KINGS 89
Scottish Senior MENS Championship – Division 1
Fury’s chances of retaining their Championship title took a blow with a loss in the capital against Edinburgh Kings, making this weeks home tie against – now League leaders – St.Mirren the most crucial game of the season for the Sony sponsored side.
The Paisley side sit on 2 losses for the season with Fury, Kings and Blaze all on 3- meaning the title race is one of the closest for many years. Fury, who have dominated the Championship, by winning the title for 4 of the past 5 seasons, got off to a solid start in the Kings match with Bryan Munnoch, Adam Hammerschmidt, Eddy Leginas and Kornelius Dauksas scoring the opening baskets for an 8-4 lead. But with Kings staying in the game from the line and then executing well from the perimeter, Fury were forced into a timeout, half-way through the opening period.
The end of the first saw Kings with a 9pt lead at 24-15.
The second was tight with both teams trying to establish control of the game. The 20-17 period in Kings favor, gave the home side a 12 point lead, on the back of some solid scoring from Kyle Jimenez, who Fury had allowed to amass a tally of 19pts.
The third period, saw a change of defence from the defending Champions with a box and one being played on Jimenez. This proved effective as Fury surged back into the game and with the scoreline at 60-54 for Kings and only a 6pt gap, it appeared Fury were about to make another of their season charges. But while Fury held Jimenez scoreless, a 9-1 run at the end of third to Kings took their lead back to double figures and again left Fury with all to do in the final stanza. But a 20-13 final quarter for Kings took them comfortably through in the end with Ryan Armour and Matt Wilcox taking over for Jimenez on the scoring front.
For Fury, Eddy Leginas top scored with 21 pts and shared a game high with Jimenez who also finished on 21.
Austrian, Adam Hammerschmidt had 14 for the Falkirk side with Greek forward Greg Foussas on 13.
Fury Headcoach John Bunyan commented to Heraldsport after the game –
‘ Kings were worthy winners and while we gave 100% and brought the game back to 6 in the third, we just were not able to close down their scorers. Our offence faced a very tough Kings defence, who forced us to make bad decisions and we never got into any real rhythm at that end of the floor. The scorelines in the second and third periods showed how tight the game was, 3pts and 2pts of a difference , but losing the opening period by 9 after getting off to a solid start was key and not being able to come back down the stretch meant it was a comfortable win in the end for them. We have gone from a team who for 5 seasons rarely gave up more than 60pts a game to one that leaks baskets and have this season, relied on our, in the main 3pt shooting to win games. To be fair to our players we are only at 3 losses for the season, we are in joint second spot and there is a lot of pride and experience in the team so we will certainly not be seeing this as the end of our title challenge. We know we need to beat Saints on Friday and we will have an opportunity with the 4 remaining games to win them all and retain our title. Preparation this week will be key and a great home crowd on Friday will be our 6th man, so its still all to play for. The last 5 seasons have set our standards and they have been very high, we were a basket from the Cup Final this season and up until now have led the Championship, so we are still not a bad team by any means. “