Basketball: Kings win Scottish title for fourth year in a row

AFTER Edinburgh Kings beat Troon Tornadoes 79-57 at Portobello on Saturday to clinch the Scottish Basketball League title for the fourth year in a row there were more local celebrations yesterday when East Lothian Peregrines at last broke their duck for the season and beat Glasgow Storm 61-49 in Glasgow.

An upset 78-71 win for St Mirren over second-in-the-table Falkirk Fury at Paisley gave Kings the chance to seal their seventh Scottish senior title the next day despite an unfortunate collision which cost them their high-scoring Latvian forward Ed Rekis early in the game.

Rekis went down poleaxed by a flying elbow in the first half and suffered a broken nose.

But good shooting from vet student Mike Kirkpatrick, who scored 25 points, including five three-pointers, and Scottish international guard, Paddy Campbell, who hit 21, including three threes, lifted Kings through some sticky patches.

In addition there was another solid performance from Scotland centre Simon Flockhart, who added 16, while former Falkirk player Daniel Donnelly had 11 for the visitors who were without Ross Campbell and Scott Frew.

"Though we weren't at our best it was good that we did it on our home court and all credit to Troon, who made us fight all the way despite having nothing really to play for," said Kings coach Danny Costello, who will be hoping that Rekis recovers in time for the Scottish Cup final.

With three league games left to play, Edinburgh cannot now be caught by nearest challengers Falkirk, whom they meet in the Cup final at Edinburgh University on Saturday, 27 March.

Meanwhile, Peregrines were jubilant having at last won a match after so many near misses. "We played great as a team and had some great fast breaks as well as dominating in the paint," said captain Grant Gibson, who was top scorer with 18.

"Rob (Jansson) (17pts) and Andy (Saunders) were outstanding on the boards and interior defence."

Falkirk Fury lost out for the second week in a row in their women's clash with Edinburgh Kool Kats, this time coming from 20 points down in the third quarter to take the lead 68-67 only to lose 71-68 at the Mariner Centre on Saturday night.

But Kats coach Graham Gunn was happy with the victory given that he was without top player Charlotte King.

Polonia Phoenix notched up two big wins, their seniors beating Cumbernauld outfit St Maurice's 71-37 with 13 points from Aussie veteran Trudi Hopgood and their cadettes pounding Perth 99-38, with Hilary Wood hitting 28 and Claire Paxton 26.