9.12.2017: Sony Centre Fury - St. Mirren West College Scotland 95:99
BUNYAN REIGNS DOWN 10 THREES BUT FURY LOSE BY 4
SONY CENTRE FURY 95 DUNFERMLINE REIGN 99
Scottish Basketball Senior Men’s Championship Division 1
FURY failed to capitalise on title rivals St.Mirren losing to Stirling Knights, when they themselves fell in Fife, despite a team total of 18 threes led by 10 threes from their Captain Keith Bunyan.
The losses by the two title leaders does not change anything at the top of the table, but for the chasing pack that includes the Kings, Reign and Blaze it makes the Championship race a lot tighter with Saints and Fury now on two losses each for the season.
This was the third time Fury and Reign had met this season with both previous games going close, but Champions Fury edging the wins in the League and Cup games.
Fury started off in blistering form with Bunyan having to start for the first time in a season and a half, after it was decided the veteran would come off the bench, a tactic that had helped Fury to all three titles last season. The return to a starting role did not phase the former Rocks pro as he hit 3 consecutive 3’s after Austrian Adam Hammerschmidt had opened Fury’s account. An 11-3 lead saw Fury maintain a healthy lead for the majority of the opening period with Lithuanian Eddie Leginas and Bryan Munnoch also putting points on the board. But Reign’s Kieran Lynch who had opened the home teams scoring with a 3 finished it with back to back threes to give Reign the lead at 22-21.
The second quarter was just as frenzied with Fury hitting a further 7 threes – Leginus, four and Bunyan another three. Again Fury had built up small leads in the period to see Reign keep in touch with strong play from guard Craig Ferguson. But it was the Falkirk side who led at the half 47-45, with fans thinking surely both sides could not maintain the pace of scoring in the second half. However both Fury and Reign are no strangers at being able to put up big numbers and the third produced what turned out to be the highest scoring quarter. A 31-28 scoreline saw Reign back in front by a point going into the final stanza. Fury had spread their scoring with Zigy Dauksas producing a solid performance off the bench. The fourth quarter again produced solid scoring from both teams, but it was the home side who pulled clear and for the first time a team had a double digit lead. But in the closing minutes, as has been Fury’s mentality when behind, they made a dramatic push that saw Greek forward Greg Foussas hit a great 2pt play and with Fury now in a full court press, Reign hit the panic button, as Bunyan bombed his 9th and 10th three for Fury to pull to within 4 but run out of time and give Reign their first win over the Falkirk side for a number of years.
For Fury, Bunyan hit 30 pts with Leginus on 25, Hammerschmidt 18 and Foussas 10, Munnoch and Dauskas shared 12.
Fury Headcoach John Bunyan commented to Heraldsport –
‘ We started really well and to Reign’s credit not only did they find ways to stay with us in the first but they managed to get the lead right at the end of quarter. The second again saw us play solid offence but we just could not stop them scoring. We edged a lead by the half but by the third it them who again led by a point. Down the stretch we let them get the biggest lead off the game and that proved costly. We hit 18 threes yet came out on the losing side and we simply made too many crucial errors, whether it was a poor pass or simply a bad decision, the slightest error was enough for Rein to capitalize on and they did. They are a team who will break and shoot at any opportunity and we knew that but did not do enough to stop their style of play. They have lost a key player this season and we suffered with another of our starting centres not being available due to injury and that hurt us on the boards and with our interior defence.
The Knights who got a great result with a win over St.Mirren are our opponents at home next Friday, so that’s going to be tough and then we have our BBL game after that, so we have a lot to play for and a lot to work on in training. ‘