Basketball: Kings' men key for Scots

AN IMPROVED display from Edinburgh Kings clubmates Laurie Costello, Simon Flockhart and Garreth Lodge helped Scotland to a stodgy 83-69 win over San Marino to open their account in the Euro C basketball Championships in Malta,

Earlier, Malta had given Denmark a tough game before going down 86-73, a result which should serve as a real warning to Scotland who play Malta later today in what is now the decider for runners-up in the group and a place in the semi-finals.

Malta have a veritable man-mountain in the 7ft 4in centre Samuel Deguara, who scored 23 points, and a dangerous guard in American-born Darryl Jackson, who scored 24.

By contrast Scotland struggled to shake off a tenacious San Marino side, who had been beaten by Malta by 30 points in their previous game.

Ahead 45-36 at half-time, the Scots eventually managed to stretch the lead to double figures but were never able to relax.

Dan Donnelly came off the bench to score 17, Steve Leven who had 14, Laurie Costello who added 12 - 11 in the first half - and Tom Pearson and Simon Flockhart with ten each.