SIGNS EXPRESS FURY 71 RENFREW ROCKS 68Scottish Cup Final Senior Men

Falkirk's Signs Express Fury Basketball club took their 8th Scottish Cup Final win in 16 seasons with a hard fought 3pt win over Renfrew Rocks. For Fury the win sees the momentum for season 25 -26 continue to roll on with great performances already in the BCB British Trophy in reaching the semi - finals and currently undefeated at 14 - 0 in the SM Scottish Division 1 Championship.

The win over Rocks also means Fury SM have won all 7 of their last 7 Cup Final appearances. Murray Hendry was voted the Most Valuable Player of the Cup Final on the back of a 20pts and 5 rebounds double -double performance.

While Fury had defeated the Rocks side twice in the League this season, both by 20 pts plus there was an expectation that Renfrew would give Fury a tougher game and that's exactly what happened with the game going down to the final shot where the Renfrew side just missed out in going into overtime.

The game opened up with Fury big Ali Fraser getting back to back inside 2pt plays and Captain Jonny Bunyan on his home Gladiators court hitting a three. From there on the teams traded baskets to a 20-17 first quarter score line and a slender Fury lead. The second was no different with nothing separating the teams. With 4 minutes remaining in the period it was the Rocks who led at 33-30 till Fury's American forward Prince Onwas hit a 2 and Bunyan hit another 3 to tie the game at 35 apiece. A 5pt run from MVP Murray Hendry at the end of the second stanza saw Fury take a 4pt 42 - 38 lead in at the half.

The third saw Rocks draw level but the teams remained locked together, exchanging baskets, with Fury taking a now 2pt lead at 55 -53 into the last quarter. The final period kept the capacity crowd entertained with a large number of fans for both teams cheering their side on in search of the win.

It was not until 2 minutes into the final quarter did further points go on the board and it was for the Rocks tying the game at 55 apiece.

Incredibly there was no more scoring for three minutes other than a Murray Hendry free throw, meaning the teams had combined for only 3pts in the opening 5 minutes of the last quarter. A dogged defensive battle was in place and the teams remained close until Rocks were forced into a timeout as they went 65 - 60 down with 2 minutes remaining. However, with an immediate long range 3 from Jonny Bunyan, Fury found themselves with the biggest lead of the game at 8pts clear with under 2 minutes to go. That remained in place till 43 seconds to go when Fury then conspired to try and throw the game away until Fury Captain Jonny Bunyan secured 3 pts from the line to take Fury into a 71 - 66 lead with 4 seconds remaining. But it was not quite over as Rocks hit a two and then had a 3 point heave in the final second to tie the game after a Fury turnover. The shot however did not find the net and the Signs Express side got the win and will go into the record books as the 25 - 26 Scottish Cup winners.

As well as Murray Hendry's 20 pts, Ali Fraser had 18 with Jonny Bunyan on 15 and Prince Onwas on 13.

Fury Headcoach John Bunyan who picked up his 20th Senior Men's National title with the win, commentated to Heraldsport after the game -

"The game going down to the wire was frankly no surprise to myself as I knew we had to be at the top of our game if we were to repeat our big wins against them that we had in the League. This is a strong Rocks team and we never made it easy for ourselves in terms of having too many turnovers, some real crucial ones in the last couple minutes and again we did not shoot well from the 3pt line. That puts a lot of pressure on our inside game where once again we were able to capitalise. We did shoot well from the free throw line and that was key. The guys we had on the court gave 100% and that shone through in terms of effort on the floor. Murray had great spells in the game and Ali was solid inside. Jonny had a great game at both ends off the floor and Prince and Eddie really dug in defensively as did Bantu. Humza once again showed what a great future he has and to play 15 minutes in such a tough final shows the faith I have in his ability.

Keith and Gordon and Jonny all had great input during the game and I have to give full credit to all the Rocks players and staff as they gave us one of our toughest games of the season. I would also like to thank the fans from both sides, making it a special Final and to our sponsors - Signs Express Falkirk and RJM Sports Falkirk who give us such valuable support and make our whole Fury program from U10's to Seniors possible."