FURY TAKE HISTORIC 4TH CUP TITLE IN 6 SEASONS!

SONY CENTRE FURY 100 ST.MIRREN 78

Scottish Cup FINAL Senior Men

Fury become the first team in Scottish Cup history to record 100pts in a Senior Men's Final – the treble figure total beat the previous record of 99 held by Fury – again in a win over St.Mirren in 2015. Fury never looked back after taking a 6pt lead at the end of the first quarter, with Austrian Adam Hammerschmidt taking the MVP title after a 24pt haul. A 29- 17 second period was the quarter that gave Fury a cushion they never looked back from. Playing an uptempo game Fury scored 22pts of fast breaks, with the significant stat coming from off the bench, where Fury racked up 26pts to Saints zero. The multi national Falkirk side with players from 6 different countries in their ranks, played team basketball throughout with a switching defensive strategy that worked hard to contain a talented Saints side. One of the other keys for the Sony sponsored side was from behind the arc where they hit a solid 50%, 12 from 24 , while their opponents struggled with a 14.8% , 4 from 27. At the free throw line, Fury were a big 81.8% , hitting 18 from 22. Fury’s 12 threes came from MVP Adam Hammerschmidt – 3, point guard Bantu Burroughs – 3, Captain Keith Bunyan and Bulgarian Boris Matrakov, 2 apiece with fellow Bulgarian Ivan Ganchev and Connor Martin on 1 apiece. With Burroughs, Eddie Leginas and Bryan Munnoch controlling the offence, Fury were also well served inside with Scottish centre Ross Gibson who had a solid game with 8pts and 10 big rebounds. Eddy Leginas also had a great stat line with 9pts, 9 assists and 8 rebounds for an all round performance for the Fury raised Lithuanian playmaker. The former 4 pro Glasgow Rocks players also did not fail to deliver with Hammerschmidt’s MVP performance, that included 7 from 10 from the charity stripe – an indication of the problem the Austrian had given Saints when going to the basket; Burroughs 19pts, 4 assists and all round solid defence; Matrakov’s 37 minutes – no rest for Boris till the final 3 minutes, producing 14points, 13 rebounds in a great double –double and 3 assists; with veteran 41yr old Captain Keith Bunyan playing 15 minutes with 2 from 4 behind the arc and of course his continual motivation to his team. 11 of Fury’s 12 players made the score sheet showing the teams strength in depth – Zygi Dauksas, Bryan Munnoch, Ross Munnoch, Connor Martin, Evaldis Bursaitis and Ivan Ganchev all with key contributions and highlight film play from Dauksas and Ganchev getting the large Fury support to their feet. The win gives Fury Men its 10th Scottish title in 7 seasons and its 4th Scottish Cup Final win in the last 6 seasons – showing the consistency and work in the Men's program. Fury Headcoach John Bunyan commented to Heraldsport after the game – ‘ We really played to our strengths today and I am delighted for the players as they have worked really hard to take this title. You cannot underestimate the mental and physical effort that goes into top amateur sport – players working in their day jobs and then going to training or even many times going to games! I am sure all our former pros will agree – yes the level is lower but the effort required is certainly not. We shot the ball well and clearly we had a big contribution off our bench. It's disappointing Greg Foussas could not play in the Final as he has done as much as anyone to take the team to where it is today. This is a fantastic group of players who really play for each other and as a coach, you can ask for no more. St.Mirren as always gave a solid account of themselves and at one stage when it looked as though we could go away from them in the third at 23 ahead, they dug deep and we had to continue to focus throughout the whole of the game. I would like to thank our loyal fans, who as usual were a big key for us and I would also like to than Gordon, my assistant coach for his work off court with the players. We have a big game this Friday – again against Saints to try and tie up second spot in the Championship and then look at having a real go at taking the Play-Offs.’