Basketball: Good victory for Kings but Costello demands more

"We continued to defend very well but we turned the ball over 19 times, a lot more than I'd have liked in an admittedly scrappy game."

What did please Costello was that the gameplan to restrict Peregrines dangermen Grant Gibson and Rob Jansson worked well – they managed only four points each – and it was left to a relatively unsung hero Cameron McGrain to provide the main home threat with four three-pointers in an 18-point tally.

Ex-Kings junior mike Murray added ten points, five assists and three steals and a block in an athletic contribution while former Rocks centre Andy Saunders, who heads off to an academic post in Seattle shortly, scored eight points and took nine rebounds despite not being match-fit.

Another ex-Kings junior, Eoghan Dover, added seven points, five assists and two steals in a typical feisty display, but Kings had too many big guns to be knocked out of their stride and the nearest they allowed their rivals to get to was 26-32.

An 11-0 run then put the champions 43-26 clear at half-time and, with Latvian forward Edgars Rekis giving another polished performance of 17 points, six assists, four steals and a block and big Simon Flockhart surprisingly declaring himself fit and adding 14 points and 11 rebounds to his defence on Jansson, Kings had enough in hand to run the entire bench in the final quarter.

Paddy Campbell added 11 points and five rebounds, Laurie Costello nine points and Garreth Lodge seven points and eight rebounds while improving Craig Reilly had six assists in his ten-minute stint.

Polonia Phoenix bowed out of the Scottish Women's Cup, beaten heavily 90-46 at Wester Hailes by a rampant Glasgow Rocks, then let slip a nine-point third-quarter lead at Portobello to lose narrowly 55-54 to an Edinburgh Kool Kats side without former US College star Charlotte King.

Polonia, however, had a good 71-61 home junior win over Fury while Kats, with only five players, went down only 76-66 to St Mirren at Linwood.