Basketball: Troon Tornadoes suffer defeat to Edinburgh Kings

Nov 6 2009 by Mike Wilson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

AFTER the high of a terrific win against St Mirren last weekend, Troon Tornadoes senior men crashed back to earth against Edinburgh Kings.

Tornadoes turned in one of their poorest performances in recent seasons as they were trounced 85-55.

Despite a good start with Ifadade Thomas scoring on the first two Tornadoes possessions, things went downhill from there.

A strange officiating decision led to Troon losing their slender early advantage.

When one of the Edinburgh guards refused to give the referee the ball and continued to discuss a call, the Tornadoes captain knocked the ball loose and was given a technical foul.

Kings were awarded two shots and possession and this rattled Tornadoes, with the Kings going on to dominate the rest of the quarter which finished with Tornadoes trailing 24-11.

In the second quarter the Tornadoes regained some composure but could make no inroads into the Kings lead and at half time the Kings were ahead 42-28.

Tornadoes lost the third quarter by six points and a poor last quarter saw the deficit stretch to 30 points – possibly the biggest defeat ever at the Citadel.

Tornadoes had no answer to Kings centre 6’9” Simon Flockhart (34 points), and were continually caught by the Kings transition.

Tornadoes have the opportunity to bounce back next weekend in the home game against East Lothian Peregrines.

Team: Kareem Nassar, Ally Hornell, Ifadade Thomas (16 points), Fraser Smith, G Anderson, Euan Campbell (capt), Gregor Anderson, Andy Pearson (11 points), Ross Campbell, Jamie Frew, Stefan Loyen, Dan Donnelly (13 points).

lTroon Tornadoes cadet men won their second game in a row with a 62-43 victory over Falkirk Fury at the Mariner Centre, Falkirk.

Both teams started the match nervously, unable to score for the first three minutes.

However, once Tornadoes opened the scoring, both sides appeared to relax and run their offences better.

Tornadoes edged the first quarter 13-12 thanks to strong inside play from centres Chris Savage and Joshua McGillivray.

And they opened a bigger gap at the start of the second thanks to some excellent long range shooting from point guard Josh Hunter and stronger inside play from Savage and McGillivray.

Falkirk kept with Tornadoes for the most part of the quarter and only lost it by 14-10, giving Tornadoes a 27-22 half time lead.

The third quarter saw a different Tornadoes side hit the floor and excellent controlled offences allowed captain Chris Savage to go on a scoring spree, hitting 15 of his game high 26 points in this quarter alone. The Fury coach called all three of his time-outs in this quarter as he tried to cope with Savage, deploying zone, man to man and box and one defence; all of which unsuccessful with Savage scoring at will inside and out.

Falkirk were limited to only four points and this gave Tornadoes a 48-26 lead going into the final period.

With the game almost out of reach for Fury, coach Robertson was able to give his younger bench players extended court time during the fourth period.

The youngsters did not disappoint, with Craig Moffat and Hamish Forsythe scoring some nice baskets on the fast break.

Although Tornadoes lost the fourth quarter by 17-14 they were able to hold on for a comfortable win by a score line of 62-43.

Team: Alan Gebbie, Josh Hunter (11 points), Hamish Forsythe (4 points), Craig Moffat (2 points), Gordon Hill, Chris Miller (9 points), Daniel Forbes (1 point), Ian Burns, Chris Savage, captain (26 points), Joshua McGillivray (9 points)

lThe Tornadoes Junior side crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season in their away match with last years national champions, Falkirk Fury.

This was always going to be a tough game against the title favourites, even although Tornadoes started well enough, with Sam Jack and Jordan McIlwraith hitting back to back three pointers, Fury upped the pace and eased into a 37-20 lead.

Tornadoes coach Robert Taft was happy that his team scored 20 points but not so happy that they conceded 37 points.

But while Tornadoes slowed Fury’s scoring a little they also stopped scoring themselves (only eight points in the quarter) and Fury increased their lead to 66-28.

Falkirk continued to press and never let up as Tornadoes struggled the lead stretched to 107-36.

In the final period Chris Savage and Josh McGillivray, who had both played in most of the cadet game beforehand, succumbed to cramp and injury, leaving Tornadoes with a small line up.

This allowed Fury to continue their domination of the game which they eventually won by 130-47. Whilst Tornadoes were well beaten by a very good team who will certainly win the championship, coach Taft was heartened that the boys did not let their heads go down and this young team will benefit next season. Top scorers: Sam Jack 14, Robb Loughlan 13.