FURY OFFICIALLY CROWNED CHAMPIONS 16-17
FURY OFFICIALLY CROWNED CHAMPIONS 16-17
SONY CENTRE FURY 54 EDINBURGH KINGS 67
Scottish Division 1 Championship Senior Men
Fury BC Senior Men were presented with their Championship season 16-17 Trophy by Basketball-Scotland Board member and basketball aficionado Sandy Sutherland before their final Championship game of the season against Edinburgh Kings at the Mariner SC, Falkirk.
After some kind words from BS CEO Kevin Pringle, the sellout Fury crowd raised the roof as Men's Captain Keith Bunyan received the Trophy. The fans have been key in the club regaining the Championship title and a special mention was also paid to Fury’s key sponsors –
Sony Centre, RJM Sports and Beecopy all local Falkirk companies who support the Fury program.
After the medal presentations , there was the small matter of a game that had the crowd involved right to the final minute.
It was the Kings who took the opening period 17-12, but a 21-12 second stanza saw Fury take a 1pt lead into the second half. The second had seen Bunyan and Austrian Adam Hammerschmidt share 4 threes and Fury go on an
14-0 run that gave them lead 28-19. At this stage it looked as though the Champions were going to pull clear, but the visitors were not about to share the Fury party and brought the game to within 1pt. The third saw Kings centre Ali McKay rack up 11 personal and put the capital side 8 ahead going into the final quarter. The fourth incredibly saw Kings score only two open court baskets but added to their 10 free throws it was enough to take the period and a double digit win over the Champions.
Hammerschmidt top scored for Fury on 14 with Greek forward Greg Foussas on 11.
Fury Headcoach John Bunyan commented to Heraldsport –
“ This was a great night for the club, the team and the fans. To be presented with our 4th Championship title in 5 seasons was amazing. To lose what is incredibly only our 3rd home game in 5 seasons was tough but we executed poorly and paid the price. Stats on the game showed both teams scored the same number of open court baskets. We hit 8 threes to the Kings 4, but the 19-4 scoreline in the Kings favor from the free throw was too much for us to overcome and I know the our fans were unhappy over the foul stats in what was a physical game.
Full credit to the Kings for defeating us in both our Championship games and clearly we need to ID how they have lost have 5 games, if we meet them in the Play-Offs, which is of course now our focus as we go for the treble!
I would like to thank the fans for making this season and the other 24 , special and for our Men to win 10 titles to date over that period, has been down to them as much as anyone. The atmosphere is always amazing and this season our record to date in both the Championship and the Cup of 20 wins and 2 losses means we have finished our time at the Mariner in style! “
NEXT FRIDAY AT THE MARINER SC FURY MEN will play in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Play-Off Championships – its looking like it will be against Edinburgh University or Dunfermline Reign – a win could see us again match up against the Kings in two weeks time in the Play-Off Semi-Finals at the Mariner – that would be special last ever Mariner game!
