6.10.2017: Sony Centre Fury - City of Edinburgh 73:69

06/10/2017 22:43

FURY MEN STAY UNDEFEATED AS THEY TOPPLE KINGS!
SONY CENTRE FURY 73 EDINBURGH KINGS 69
Scottish Basketball Senior Men’s Division 1 Championship

Current Scottish Champions Fury kept on track for their 5th Championship title in 6 seasons as they took down Edinburgh Kings in front of a fanatical Fury crowd who cheered their team to victory and a 5-0 record so far in the Division 1 title race. 
22 pts from the league’s top point guard Eddy Leginas and 18 from his Austrian teammate Adam Hammerschmidt were the big numbers for the Falkirk side who served up three consecutive threes in the final two minutes to take the win. They came from, Captain Keith Bunyan who narrowed the gap just after Fury had fallen behind for the first time in the game, Bryan Munnoch then tying the game and that man Leginus putting Fury ahead by 3, with Hammerschmidt sealing the game at the line for the 4pt win.
Fury had started strongly with a 21-14 opening quarter lead- Hammerschmidt with 9 personal in that period. 
Fury continued to have control of the game, taking their lead as Leginas and Hammerschmidt led the offence. In the starting line-up for the first time was Lithuanian Kornelius Dauksas for the injured Ross Gibson and his presence was adding to the strength of the Falkirk defence. The second period was a high scoring stanza with Fury at one point holding a 16pt lead. Off the bench Connor Martin scoring early in that period with Dauksas also scoring well and Leginas seemingly unstoppable as he and Munnoch had back to back threes forcing the Kings into a time –out as they looked in disarray. But Fury themselves were forced into a time-out as the Kings re-grouped and came back at the home side, but Fury retained their 7pt lead by the end of the second to take that margin into the second –half. The third was the opposite of the second with both teams struggling to get points on the board as the defence intensified. However a long three from Bunyan and with veteran crucially being fouled on another 3pt shot he went to the line to seal a further 3 points to give Fury an 8pt lead at the half.
But is was in the final period that the game had the 300 plus Fury fans on their feet as they stormed home with that triple 3pt blitz to take the what was a very key game – Fury remaining unbeaten and crucially the Kings suffering their second defeat of the season.
Fury Headcoach John Bunyan commented to Heraldsport –
‘ Firstly this was a huge team effort, from the players, to the fans and to the preparation we put into the game. There is no doubt the Kings were rattled by our defence in that key opening period where we took what turned out to be a crucial lead. Tactically we had to make several changes with the injury to starting centre Ross Gibson and we decided to go with Kornelius who played a solid game at game at both ends of the floor. In that first half we had 18 open court baskets to the Kings 12 and that is a key stat as to how we moved the ball and found scoring opportunities. The Kings lived by the charity stripe throughout the game but with 14pts from our bench we showed we have a great squad and as well as our starters – Greg Foussas, Kornelius, Adam, Eddy and Bryan – the guys off the bench tonight – Keith, Connor, Zygi Dauksas and Walter Lubeigt were major contributors. Bringing Walter back in to the team for his first game this season due to Ross’s injury was again a seamless situation for us using a guy who has won 10 of our 11 Mens National titles over the years. We had 8 threes to the Kings 3, but they had double the amount of free throw points to us and we need to look at that aspect, although MacKenzie did a great job on the drums again! 
There were many positives in the game beyond the result – how we defended and restricted their bigs, our team spirit and the way the team responded using what was different line-ups/looks tonight due to the Ross Gibson injury, a player who was giving us double digit scoring and 25 minutes plus a game. Its not easy to replace a mobile scoring big like Ross, so that was one of the real positives tonight.