Sea of red Fury fans celebrate

Senior Men Final

Falkirk gained position from the tip and started the scoring tally with a strong post move from Roni Gordon. King’s Simon Flockhart returned with the same. Eric Olson scored the 3^rd basket for Fury, Kings threw an interception which was converted to a 3 pointer by Jonny Bunyan. After 4 minutes of play the score was 4-11 to Fury and Edinburgh Kings called a timeout. Following this Laurie Costello hit a 3 to bring kings back into contention. Edinburgh stepped up their defence and forced fury to run the 24 second clock down turning the ball over. Fury regained possession and were fouled sending Eric Olson to the line who hit 1 from 2. Falkirk applied the pressure and stole the ball with Bunyan finishing the fast break bringing the score to 11-16. The game became more physical with Garreth Logde bumping Roni Gordon on the sideline. Another strong post move from Fury’s Walter Lubeigt put Fury up 14-18 with 1 minute 30 on the clock. Lodge however answered this with a quick drive for 2 making the score even at 18 all. Lubeight was fouled, went to the line and hit both free throws to make it 18-20. Kings returned with a jump shot to tie the game at 20-20 going into the 2^nd quarter.

Fury started the 2^nd with a 3 from Eric Olson followed up by a 3 from Edinburgh’s Michael Kirkpartick who scored another 20 seconds later, taking kings into the lead. However after another few minutes of competitive play, Fury pulled back to take the lead by a point, with another basket from Eric Olson giving Fury a 31-32 advantage with just under five minutes to play in the half. The game restarted after a time out with points being exchanged at either end of the court, until Roni Gordon scored another two to take the score to 33-36 to Fury. Simon Flockhart then made two from the line to close the gap once again, leaving just a point between the teams. Both teams continued to play hard on offence with the lead changing numerous times, and the half finished with Fury leading by 2 points, 39-41.

The game restarted following the half time break with hard defence from Fury who managed to keep Kings at bay long enough to run down the 24 second clock in the first offence of the half. Fury then followed this with a basket which extended their lead to 4 points before again running down the shot clock as Kings tried to move to the basket. Fury’s Keith Bunyan then added another 3 points to the board with a shot from out wide, while Kings struggled to break through Fury’s pressure defence. With the score standing at 41-48 to Fury, Eric Olson was followed going for the shot, and took to the line to make one of his two free throws and increase their lead to 8. This was quickly answered by Kings who closed the gap once again to 6. Edgars Rekis was then fouled in the act of shooting, but failed to score the resulting free throw, leaving the score at 46-52. Walter Lubeigt then was then too fouled in the act of shooting, and converted his shot from the line to extend Fury’s lead to 10. Another two free throws from Ali Fraser yet again extended Fury’s lead, only to be answered by a controlled basket off the fast break by Edgar Rekis to bring Kings up to 49. By the end of the 3^rd, the score stood at 49-61, meaning Fury went into the last period with a an 11 point lead.

Kings came out strong in the 4^th, with Simon Flockhart drawing the foul as he drove to the basket. He converted one of his free throws to bring the score to 50-61, before Fury’s Eric Olson cut into the key and scored , bringing the score to 50-63 with just short of 8 minutes left in the final. Jonny Bunyan then shot a 3, and in close succession added another two, meaning Fury led by 18. Kings answered with a 3 of their own, before Fury again used the fast break to score an easy basket. Roni Gordon then once again scored with a post move, drawing the foul and successfully scoring the free throw, extending the gap to 20 points 3 minutes left to play. Ali Fraser added a dramatic 2 points to Fury’s lead with a dunk in the last two minutes, and the team continued to work well on offence, leading 63-81 going in to the last minute of play. Michael Kirkpatrick however continued his excellent shooting form, hitting yet another 3 for Kings. But, it was too late or the game to be won by Kings, and Fury held on for the last 30 seconds or so to finish the game, winning by 16 with the score at 66-82.

Kings head coach Danny Costello recognised the importance of Fury’s high percentage shooters, and their influence on the game. “Our percentages weren’t good at all,” he commented. “Whereas they had the likes of Eric Olson, who made a big difference with their shooting”.

Fury coach John Bunyan said how he believes the players played really well as a team. “We came in with a game plan, to use the advantage we had inside, “ he said. He believed it was the correct result as their guys played tough, and their great shooting made a huge difference”.

Written Stacy McDonald

Boxscore