Basketball: Scottish Cup should be main event, insists Edinburgh Kings coach

By SANDY SUTHERLAND
Published on 17/09/2012 13:16

Edinburgh KINGS senior men’s basketball coach Doug Reilly has insisted that the Scottish Cup should be the premier national inter-club competition in Scotland.

But he also admits that, if they are not careful, Kings could be out of the competition in two weeks’ time when they play the holders St Mirren at Portobello High School in a first-round clash which is a potential final.

“I believe the Cup should be the premier competition in Scotland and should take place at the end of the season and not the play-offs, which went on far too long last season.”

“But I wasn’t consulted on the change and we’ll just have to get on with it,” he said.

“We’ve also got Troon Tornadoes and Falkirk Fury in our half of the draw with the other half much weaker.”

Should Kings beat Saints, who had an easy 96-61 away league win over Stirling Knights on Saturday, they could face Fury in the semi-finals. Kings also had an easy, though drab,

76-42 home win over Dunfermline Reign in the Scottish League at Portobello on Saturday with Ed Rekis top-scoring for Kings with 21 points and Lee Reilly, the other absentee from the previous week’s win over Boroughmuir Blaze, adding nine.

Kings were up 25-15 after the first quarter, 44-30 ahead at half-time and took the last two quarters 22-6 and 10-6.

Capital student Ali Horne, with eight points, caught the eye for Reign, whose lack of height was a continual handicap.

The biggest shock of the day was Reign’s 72-67 away victory over the Kings junior men, whose cadet cohorts also lost to the Fifers 68-60.

Led by ten points from Shona Paxton, Polonia Phoenix opened their senior women’s campaign with a 58-40 win over Pentland Star at Broughton High School.

Lithuanian Kristina Skarnulyte, also with ten, led Star.