Basketball: Troon Tornadoes lose to league leaders Edinburgh Kings

Oct 7 2011 by Mike WIlson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

THE two game winning streak of Troon Tornadoes senior men came to an abrupt halt against league leaders Edinburgh Kings at the Citadel.

A much bigger Kings team dominated the area close to the basket and Simon Flockhart, their 6’9” centre scored eight of their first 13 points. Tornadoes struggled with their offense and by the end of the quarter they trailed 23-13 and 52-29 at the half.

In third quarter, Tornadoes were outscored 32-13 and although they were on the wrong side of a thumping they can take some slight comfort from winning the fourth quarter 22-18.

No Tornadoes player was in double figures in scoring whereas Kings had five in double digits with their Latvian forward having a game high 23 points.

An all round poor performance but Tornadoes will hope they can recover quickly on Friday when they host Dunfermline Reign at the Citadel.

Chris Bombani (2 pts), Malcolm Morrison (9), Fraser Smith (5), Ian Holland (6), Euan Campbell (8), Johnny Petit (9), Daniel Dittmann, Scott Frew (2), Alexi Zhyzhyn (5), Graham Hunter (9).

Tornadoes cadets lost 85-43 to Edinburgh Kings, despite matching them basket for basket in the opening five minutes, levelling the score at 10-10 before Kings called a time-out.

Centre Sam Paterson and forward Fraser Wright combined for eight of Tornadoes’ first 10 points but a poor end to the quarter allowed Kings to score easy baskets to lead 25-12.

Kings racked up 27 points in the next period thanks to 17 from Scotland centres Gregor Gray and Rian Neill. Tornadoes managed only five of their own thanks to a fast break lay-up from Craig Boyce and a long range three-pointer from Craig McIntyre.

Tornadoes were left with a mountain to climb, losing 17-52 at the half. A much closer third quarter saw Tornadoes put 12 points on the board thanks to eight from Sam Paterson but Kings hit 13.

Bonar Robb came off the bench to score seven points and Adam Jack scored his first points of the season with a nice long range three-pointer.

Marcus MacMillan (2 pts), Alex Anderson (2), Greg Austin (2), Craig Boyce (captain, 2), Johnny McElhinney, Fraser Wright (4), Adam Jack (3), Craig McIntyre (9), Sam Paterson (10), Bonar Robb (9).

Tornadoes junior men started well against a good Kings side and trailed11-12 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Troon played excellent aggressive defence that forced the Kings side to take difficult shots and make mistakes. However, a late three point basket gave Kings a 29-24 lead at the half time break.

The advantage was stretched to 49-33 but Troon picked up again in the fourth quarter and changed the offense slightly. But again the strength of the Kings centres and the foul trouble meant Kings got free throws to seal a 71-52 win.

The juniors coach is confident his team can beat Kings on the away tie.

Team: Chris Miller (14 pts), Gregory McMillan (12), Ian Burns (9), Mark Gebbie (5), Gordon Hill (5), Hamish Forsythe (4), Allan Gebbie (3).