Basketball: Kings almost toppled after second-half slackness

“Christmas lethargy – they thought that had it won at half-time,” said coach Doug Reilly, who added: “We didn’t move the ball nearly as well in the second half and they were encouraged when they started to close the gap.”

Troon were never quite near enough to win the game after Kings led 24-11 after the first quarter and 41-26 at half-time but they did cause a few hearts to flutter amongst the home fans who must hope that a different Edinburgh team come out for next Saturday’s crucial league clash with Falkirk Fury at Portobello.

Had Edgars Rekis been more severely punished for his careless fling of an elbow, which fortunately did not make contact, things might have been very different. As it was he was awarded an unsporting foul and departed with five fouls late in the game.

Top scorers for Kings were Lee Reilly with 21, Simon Flockhart with 20 and Rekis with 13 while Ifedade Thomas and Andy Pearson had 14 each for Troon.

Fury, meanwhile, showed that they will be tough to beat by holding off St Mirren 85-75 at the Mariner, where the visitors actually closed to within one point only for home guard Jonny Bunyan to hit three three-pointers in a row in a hot streak to take them ten points clear again.

In all, Fury hit 12 threes with Bunyan supplying five, his elder brother, Keith, four and Scott Russell three, Russell also finishing top-scorer with 21, Jonny adding 19 and Ronnie Gordon and Keith Bunyan 14 each.

Boroughmuir Blaze narrowly failed to make it a winning debut at their new home at the Crags Sports Centre, going down 65-61 to Glasgow Storm in a foul-strewn game on Saturday.

A basket in the dying seconds by Dan Donnelly gave Stirling Knights a narrow 68-67 home win over Dunfermline Reign at the Peak Sports Centre.

Without Capital-based centre Rob Jansson, who was serving the first of a three-game ban, Knights may also be without Leith Academy FP Grant Gibson for the rest of the season due to an ankle injury.