Falkirk Fury: Cadet men narrowly defeated in SBC Scottish Cup final by St Mirren

The cadet men lost out in their cup final (Photo: Gary Smith)

Fury had gone behind in the opening quarter after the teams exchanged opening baskets and with the scoreline at 19-7 with less than a minute to play in the first, it was not looking good for the Falkirk side. However a big three from first year cadet Taylan Ertekin and a two-point play from Andrew Henderson saw a much more respectable first quarter score of 19-12.

Ertekin continued to be the Fury go to player as he brought the score to within four points at 20-16. It was then Ertekin again with another three that kept Fury in touch at 24-20.

Scores by Jack Robertson and Gavin Black forced Saints into a timeout as the scoreline moved to a two point game at 28-26. Shortly after the timeout, Fury led the much bigger Saints side with another Ertekin three.

The sides exchanged baskets as the game moved towards half-time with Adama Hainey giving Fury the lead at 35-33 with shots from the line. Hainey added two points just before the break, but Saints scored on the buzzer to make it a 37-35 lead for Fury.

The third quarter saw the teams again exchange baskets to give Fury the lead on 56-54 as the teams went into the final quarter. But it was Saints who took the lead early in the fourth and they eventually stretched out their lead.

For Fury, first year cadet Ertekin showed what a prospect he is with 23 points and eigth rebounds. Hainey had another big game with 14 points and six assists with Gavin Black on ten points personal too.

Jack Robertson, Andrew Henderson and Oliver Coffey all played big minutes with eight, seven and seven points respectively, Henderson also grabbing seven rebounds.

Arron Robertson and Joel Ramsay completed the players on court and working hard in their minutes. Makenzie Ferguson and U14 players Will Claydon and Jay Bunyan completed the Fury side.

Coach Ewan Carlow said: “We faced a strong St Mirren team who have a huge size advantage on us and that was key in our loss.

"Our players responded to the challenge and came away with our best result this season against them and we gave ourselves a big opportunity to win going into the final quarter in front but just could not finish down the stretch.”