Basketball: Kings draw first blood in Fury clash

First blood was most definitely to Edinburgh Kings as they defeated Falkirk Fury 78-60 in the first clash of the season between the Scottish basketball league champions and the Scottish Cup holders at Portobello High School.

The revamped Fury never looked like repeating their upset cup final win of last March over Kings who won every quarter, leading 16-10, 43-33 at half-time and 66-53 after the third to become the only unbeaten team in the league.

"We defended very well and coped well with their superior height," said a delighted Kings coach Danny Costello, who also praised his team's eight from 22 three-point shooting and remarkable 100 per cent free throws. "The threes came at vital times when Fury were just beginning to fight back," he explained.

By contrast, so tight was the Kings defence that the three visiting hot-shots, David Foster, Keith Bunyan and Richard Thorpe, managed only one three-pointer between them out of 17 attempts and the team were one from 20.

Foster, nil from six from beyond the arc, still top-scored with 21 for Fury, whose line-up included the two 6ft 10in Scottish international centres Roni Gordon and Stu MacKay.

Latvian Edgars Rekis was the star for Kings scoring 24 points, taking 15 rebounds, giving four assists and having one block in probably his finest game since joining the Capital club last year, while Scotland centre Simon Flockhart added 14 points in another battling display against the opposing big men.

Teenage guard Lee Reilly was again excellent, adding 11 points, a total matched by Mike Kirkpatrick, who was superb in defence and also had three threes in the second quarter, while Paddy Campbell had seven points. For Fury, in addition to Foster, Gordon scored 14 points and took 12 rebounds, while the Frenchman Walter Lubeigt had ten points.

Fury did better in their women's game holding the double Scottish League and Cup champions Scottish Rocks to 11 points, 70-59.

In the same league Polonia Phoenix travelled to Cumbernauld to deliver a thumping 97-27 win over the luckless St Maurice's Rocks.

Dunfermline Reign went down away to Scottish Rocks in the men's league, while Stirling Knights beat Glasgow Storm 70-62 and St Mirren beat Glasgow University 70-64.