St Mirren pressure defence breaks Fury offence

Under-16 Men Final

Fury started the U16 men’s cup final with a strong offence creating an instant lead of 5 within the first few minutes of the opening quarter. Despite St Mirren’s great ball movement around the perimeter and finding the open shots. Fury continued their offensive domination clearing up a high percentage of offensive rebounds. St Mirren kept their composure and shrunk the gap to 3 by the end of the first quarter.

A few coaching points at the turn of the quarter saw the Fury extend their lead to 7, 3 minutes into the 2^nd quarter. However, with a change to the St Mirren defence they clawed back the points and held Fury to 20 points a piece for with 3 minutes left in the half. The pressure of the full court press cracked the Fury offence and St Mirren took the lead going into the half time break. Scott Rooney was top scorer in the first half with 9 of St Mirren’s 24 points, and Craig Malcolm lead the Fury with 6 points.

St Mirren continue their pressure defence opening up the second half, extending their lead to 7. Fury continue to dominate the offensive boards claiming the second chance points. After the time out saints remained aggressive with Scott Rooney scored instantly. With 3minutes left in the 3^rd Fury took a time out to try and compose themselves. This proved effective as they gained a quick score as they came back on making the score 33-28. Saints Then went on to steal the ball twice converting the fast break each time- piling the pressure on fury again. Saints increased their lead to 9 with 1 minute remaining in the 3^rd period. Falkirk finished the quarter on a high scoring a jump shot at the buzzer.

The nerves stayed with fury as they entered the fourth throwing a turnover in their first offence but they came back strong and brought the score down to 41-37. St. Mirren continued to drive and went to the line to gain some valuable points. Falkirk fouled again sending Rooney to the line and the score was 48-43 with 3 and a half minutes remaining. Fury then stepped up their defence forcing saints to commit 2 turnovers in a row. With 30 seconds left fury fouled once again and after both free throws were made the score increased to 50-45. Saints went to the line again and finished the game at 51-45.

Both coaches came away from the game pleased with how their team played saying that they were impressed with the intensity displayed by all players but felt that both teams struggled with their shooting. Both coaches praised the referees for their officiating.

Craig Chambers of Saint Mirren said, “I feel the pressure and believed the game was well contested by Falkirk but our team remained more composed which helped them achieve their win.”

Written by Jamie Wilson