This week, we were in Edinburgh as rivals City of Edinburgh Kings and Boroughmuir Blaze took to the floor for the second time this season. Kings came away with the win on the road, defeating Blaze 90-62 at the Crags.
Coming out of the gate, Blaze would be slow to get started in this game as they were unable to convert on the offensive side of the floor. Kings, on the other hand, would quickly jump out to a 14-6 lead as point guard, Kyle Jimenez worked his way into the paint for a number of inside looks and Blaze had little answer for Ali Mackay in the post, leading to the home side to call an early timeout. Jimenez and MacKay would go on to combine for 18 points in the quarter, giving the away side a 23-16 lead at the end of the first.
Kings would continue to play stellar defence in the second quarter, holding Blaze to just 10 points. Stops on the defensive side of the floor lead to a number of fast break points on the other end for Kings.
“We kept doing what we’ve been doing for our last 10 games now, we’ve been playing defence like we’re one of the best defensive teams around,” said Kings coach, Craig Nicol, “we’ve been really suffocating teams and guys are struggling to score against us. We play good defence, we get out and run and we look good in transition and we get a lot of good looks from that”
As the first half came to a close, Kings held a resounding 47-27 lead over Blaze.
In the second half, it was more of the same. Blaze couldn’t narrow the deficit and Kings continued to widen the gap as more players got themselves on the scoresheet. Great ball movement by Kings allowed them to free up space on the perimeter for their guards to penetrate at will. After a fairly quiet first half, Garreth Lodge would go on to score 12 points in the second, coming away as Kings’ top scorer with 17 points in a 90-62 win over Blaze, giving them their 10th win in a row.
In what was a solid team effort by Kings, along with Lodge’s 17 points, Kyle Jimenez would add 15 points, Calum Nicol had 13 points, Neil Rowan added 11, and Ali Mackay would finish with 10 points including this huge dunk in the third quarter;
For Blaze, Ben Warrington was their highest scorer with 10 points.
Both teams will now be looking ahead to this Saturday when they play each other again in the SBC Cup Final. Tickets are still available here at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2018-sbc-scottish-cup-final-weekend-tickets-41450720220
