SONY CENTRE FURY SM 83 BOROUGHMUIR BLAZE 94

Scottish Senior Men’s Division 1 Championship

The first quarter was to prove key at the Crags SC as Blaze went out to a 26-16 first quarter lead. That lead got even bigger in the opening minutes of the second, until Fury drastically altered their line –up, bringing together four players off the bench. Fury then went on a charge that saw the scoreline go from the Falkirk side being 15 down to a 3pt game. Daniel Tran, Zygi Dauksas, Connor Martin and Keith Bunyan with back to back 3’s brought the scoreline back to 39-36 forcing Blaze into a timeout. At that point Fury made a number of changes, but Blaze then closed out the final minutes of the period with a 15-6 run off their own and a half-time lead of 54-42. The third saw little difference between the sides with Blaze edging it 23-22 for a 13pt lead. While Fury looked as they could still close the gap, the final scoreline of 94-83 gave Blaze the win. Fury will want to look at a number of incidents in the opening quarter and must again address a defence that once again gave up too many easing scoring opportunities. Eddie Leginasled the Falkirk side with 17. Fellow Lithuanian Zygi Dauksas had 13 in what was his best game for Fury this season, with brother Kornelius on 11. Austrian Adam Hammerschmidt who has been a thorn in Blaze’s side over a number of key Finals in the past few seasons had 10 with Bryan Munnoch on 9. Fury Headcoach John Bunyan commented to Heraldsport after the game – ‘ Blaze came out and wanted to win the game more than we did in that opening spell and we paid for that. We were poor in transition and just do not respond to where their threats were. To be fair we came back into the game and at 39-36 we should have been able to win from that point. But we had a terrible end to the second and then won the second half. If we can get two wins over Pleasance, our remaining games of the season, we will finish 3rd as we have the head to head on Blaze. Its an acceptable position given we had to make a number of adjustments when we lost Ross Gibson, our starting centre, not just for a few games but literally the whole season – that’s been tough for us. However you have to accept that and look to develop and win in other ways, which, for the most part we have.’ Fury Men are at home this Friday night to Pleasance from Edinburgh and the match tips at 8pm at Grangemouth SC. Spectators are welcome. Photo Credit: basketballscotland