16.3.2018: Sony Centre Fury - Edinburgh Kings 68:70
FURY LOSE 3RD TITLE IN 2PT CAPITAL LOSS
SONY CENTRE FURY 68 EDINBURGH KINGS 70
Scottish Play-Off Championships Senior Men Semi-Final
Fury relinquished the last of the 3 titles they won last season, when an under strength Edinburgh Kings side put paid to their last title chance of the season with a narrow but hard fought win. Kings were missing 3 key players and that should have been enough to send Fury into the Play-Off Final, but Fury were never under any illusions the game was a foregone conclusion. That was endorsed as the Kings led by 7, 40-33 at the half after a tied opening period.
Captain Keith Bunyan had led Fury during the first half with three 3’s – Fury’s only conversations from behind the arc in these periods – a telling factor for the Sony sponsored side.
However a solid 3rd for the Falkirk side, saw them hold Kings to 10pts and put 19 on the board themselves for a 2pt lead going into the final stanza. At this stage Fury had an unusual line-up on the floor as off the bench Bulgarian Ivan Ganchev and Lithuanian Zygi Dauksas were contributing at both ends off the floor and had been key in Fury now being in front.
When Ganchev hit his second big three of the night Fury had pushed their lead out to 7pts and the game was entering its final minutes. However a big three for Kings was followed by two that was a crucial 4 pt play as Fury had just missed – in football terms an ‘absolute sitter’ at the other end. With the game now at 2 pts it was anyone’s match and with Zygi Dauksas calmly sinking 2 free throws to take Fury again in front in the final minute Fury looked as though they may sneak the win. But it was not to be as Kings themselves sealed the game from the line for the win.
Austrian Adam Hammerschmidt led Fury with 14, 6 in the final quarter with Zygi Dauksas on 13 and Eddie Leginas on 12. With the Kings scorers in similar numbers, no player had been able to dominate the game which eventually came down to a single basket.
Fury Headcoach John Bunyan commented to Heraldsport –
‘Firstly you have to give the Kings credit for the win, achieved with 3 key players out. We knew they had the players to battle and get a win and we failed to capitalize on them being short handed. You can only play who is in front of you and we just came up short. It looked like we had the upper hand half way through the fourth but a couple bad plays down the stretch were costly. The team has performed well all season, 3rd in the league and losing out twice to the Kings by a point and 2pts in semi-finals. Its fine margins between success and failure and we have to live with that and start looking at next season. We have a well balanced side and we had players this season who have shown they deserve more minutes and its been a season of integrating that into our overall game plan. I would like to thank all the fans and sponsors who have supported the team, our transition to a new home venue was never going to be easy, we coped well with that and thanks also to Falkirk Trust and the staff at Grangemouth SC for making our venue a place where fans can come along and enjoy top class basketball.’