25.11.2016: City Of Edinburgh - Sony Centre Fury 70:67
FURY FALL TO KINGS IN BUZZER BEATER FURORE
Fury lost their first game of the season after a sensational opening quarter saw them take a 14 point lead, however Kings veteran Paddy Campbell was the key to a second quarter comeback that reduced the Fury lead to 3 at the half. The ends of the second and third quarters ended amid chaos and confusion caused over a table top scoreboard used on the night with no buzzer to indicate when periods were ending- giving Kings 3 and 2 point plays that Fury fans were adamant were over time.
Fury came out in that opening period with 3 straight 3’s , two from Austrian Adam Hammerschmidt and one from pg Bryan Munnoch. The Sony sponsored side muted the home fans as they went out to a 23-9 lead after only 7 minutes of play. Munnoch finished that first period with 10 personal and up and coming centre Ross Gibson caused his former, NCAA opponent, Ali McKay problems as he took his tally to 6pts in the first quarter – a period that ended with Fury ahead 27-16.
But it was Kings Paddy Campbell who prevented the game being a potential non event as he hit 8 personal at the end of the first period then followed that up with a further 8 pts at the start of the second as Fury saw their double digit lead dissolve to a handful of points.
As Fury’s three point shooting dried up it was left to Greek forward Greg Foussas to keep Fury in front with several key plays. The third like the second saw the game stay close with the Falkirk side’s lead down to 1. Fury finished the match as they had started with three 3’s with the final seconds seeing Fury miss a shot to take the lead and on the “buzzer” – well there was no buzzer, missing a shot to tie the game.
For Fury Ross Gibson top scored on 16 with Munnoch and Hammerschmidt sharing 28. Lithuanian Eddy Leginus had 12 with Foussas on 11.
Fury Headcoach John Bunyan told Heraldsport –
“ The loss was crucially by only 3 points, that’s a deficit if it comes down to ourselves and Kings in the last game of the season , we can overcome. We played text book basketball in the opening quarter on the offensive end but not on the defensive end and while holding Kings to only 16 was decent we could/should have made a far better job on the one player who kept them in the game. When our lead was reduced, we on two or three occasions were able to regain significant leads which we lost on both occasions over a situation that should never have been in place for the biggest game so far this season in Scottish basketball – a table top scoreboard being used with no buzzer to indicate when quarters finished. This should have been investigated fully by officials at half-time, it wasn’t and same scenario unfolded at the end of the third period and proved costly for us. I am very disappointed for our players and fans over this.
We missed having Frenchman Walter Lubeigt in our rotation but that’s not an excuse, the Kings fought hard throughout and they have shown that they are also genuine title contenders. We are half-way through the season and we are in a good place, one game from the Scottish Cup Final, joint top of the Championship with good head to head scorelines.”