22.9.2018: Dunfermline Rein - Sony Center Fury 74:69
FURY LET THE REIGN IN - IN CRUCIAL CHAMPIONSHIP TIE
SONY CENTRE FURY 69 DUNFERMLINE REIGN 74
Scottish Senior Men's Championship Division 1
Tied at 69 apiece well inside the final minute of the match, Fury blew a key scoring opportunity to allow the home side in to take a huge win in the title race. The Falkirk side’s new signing Boris Matrakov led Fury with 20pts and Austrian Adam Hammerschmidt racked up 19, 16 in the second half which has seen Fury play much better than their first half performance. Down by 3 , 18-15 at the end of the first, Fury had struggled to capitalise on the scoring opportunities they were creating. Add to that the constant battle to keep Reign’s transition offence in check, it was perhaps a surprise that Fury were only down by 6 at the half. Matrakov and Zygi Dauksas leading Fury on 8 and 7 points respectively.
The third saw Fury start strongly and the game was quickly back at 2pts on several occasions, but Reign kept their up tempo game going and by the end of the third had stretched their lead to 11. So it was all to do for the Sony sponsored side as their large away support urged them on right from the start of the final stanza. With a switch of defence and a 3pt barrage, Fury who initially dropped 12 behind in the 4th saw threes from Matrakov (2), Hammerschmidt (2) and Leginas ( 1) and a 3pt play from Hammerschmidt, a great post up play by Greek – Greg Foussas and another 2pt play from Leginas saw the match tied at 69 apiece.
The home fans could not believe their side had allowed a double digit lead to evaporate and held their breath when Fury broke down the court only to miss what seemed like a certain lay-up for their first lead of the game with less than 30 seconds to play. Full credit to Reign who then closed out the game with two winning plays for a 5pt victory.
Fury now stand at 2 wins and 2 losses in the Championship and Fury Headcoach John Bunyan had this to say after the game to Heraldsport –
“ We knew we would have to be at our best to win this game on Reign’s court and that did not happen. Our execution was poor in the first two periods and we struggled to cope with the transition of Reign ‘s offence. Adam, who is one of our key players did not get into the game until the second half and we are also just not getting a good enough scoring spread between our players. I think we can take some positives from the game but the reality is we really need to pick up on our execution and are now getting to a stage that we cannot afford to lose many more games if we are to stay in touch in the title race. The fans that travelled to support us really were a big factor when we got our act together and came back from 12 down to level and we know they will be key to us staying in this title race. “