Falkirk Fury junior men storm to SBC Scottish Cup final victory over Ayr

Shand, the match’s MVP, showed his class with a dominant 24-point performance.

While Fury had beaten Storm in their two league games this season, the quarter scoring reflected that at no point did Fury have time to take the result for granted.

A 23-17 first quarter saw cadet Andrew Henderson open the game scoring with a long three. Jack Shand then made the Falkirk side's next eight points with four lay-ups, driving through the entire Storm defence each time.

However the teams were trading baskets and it was not until Finlay Morrison, coming off the bench, made back to back two plays, that Fury went back into a 15-10 lead.

That was short-lived as Ayr made a long range three and it was then still a two-point game with three minutes of the first remaining. Shand continued his first quarter scoring run as Fury moved to that 23-17 first quarter scoreline.

Halfway through the second period the game was still a six point affair until a Morrison three put Fury nine points clear at 33-24. With Shand and Fury's Ukrainian Daniel Velykyy continuing to add points for Fury, the half-time score saw them rack up a 15-point lead at 48-33.

Three minutes into the third period the game was still in the balance with a 50-39 scoreline, but the next seven minutes saw the game decided when the Falkirk side went on a 16-4 run and a 66-43 scoreline. A 13-12 final quarter gave Fury the 24-point win and another junior men's title for the Sony Centre sponsored club.

The Fury side also boasted an incredible ten pupils from Falkirk High School.

While Shand top scored on 24 points, his team-mates also made big contributions both in scoring and on the defensive end. Daniel Velkyy had ten points and 11 rebounds for a great double . Brothers Alex and Dylan Low had nine points and eight points respectively with Morrison having his best game of the season with nine points personal over 20 minutes court time.

Cadets Gavin Black (six points), Andrew Henderson (five points) and Adama Hainey got solid minutes with Liam Bouch, Cole Mellstrom, John Crozier and Jack McNie completing the Fury side.

Fury’s coaching team was led by Keith Bunyan with Ewan Carlow his assistant on the day, with Carlow having also led the cadet men in their cup final defeat.

Speaking after the victory, coach Keith said: “I thought we executed reasonably well and worked hard on the defensive aspects, particularly in the second half.

"We had nine turnovers to Ayr's 22 and that was a big statistic for us. Although Jack got the majority of our points, we look to play team basketball and that showed through in this game.

"No matter who was on court, they knew their role and the team chemistry is excellent in this group and that shone through again with the way the guys all played for each other.”