SBC Scottish Cup Finals: Senior Preview

The senior SBC Scottish Cup Finals will conclude both days of action over the weekend as Boroughmuir Blaze play St Mirren on Saturday evening and Lady Rocks face City of Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon.

Senior Men’s Final

Boroughmuir Blaze began their journey to Saturday’s Final with an 81-78 win over Sony Centre Fury. They managed a more comfortable victory in the last eight, overcoming Edinburgh Lions 82-57, before travelling to Reign in the Semi-Final, winning 82-70. St Mirren picked up a big 116-43 win to start their 19/20 cup run before 89-68 win away to Glasgow University in the Quarter-Final. They welcomed City of Edinburgh to Lagoon in the last four, progressing with a 101-86 victory.

St Mirren sit second in the Soho Wealth SBC Senior Men’s Division, joint on points with table-topping Fury. The Paisley-based side have only lost twice this season, with one of those games being against their Final opponents. Boroughmuir Blaze have recorded seven straight victories in the Division after a slow start to their season. The side now sit fourth with a record of 8-4.

St Mirren overcame Blaze in their first meeting of the season, 85-74 at The Crags, however Blaze picked up a big win on the road, 99-78 , to take the points at Lagoon.

St Mirren’s Adam Hammerschmidt is expecting a strong team effort from Blaze:

“Blaze plays good team basketball. They move and shoot the ball well. As such, we don’t focus on individual players, but rather focus on containing them as team. We are expecting them to have studied all our plays and know these inside out prior to the game and play with a lot of energy consistently throughout the game.

The key similarity between the two teams is the fact that each starter can score in double-digits, but I believe that our bench is stronger.”

Senior Women’s Final

City of Edinburgh had just one game on their route to this year’s Final after Glasgow University conceded in the last eight. The Semi-Final saw Kats travel to Grangemouth and pick up a 64-46 win over Fury. Lady Rocks’ Quarter-Final resulted in a 79-62 win away to Perth, with a 63-57 win at Lagoon in the next round securing their spot in Sunday’s Final.

City of Edinburgh remain unbeaten throughout 19/20, with a perfect league record of 12-0. Lady Rocks have suffered a sole defeat, sitting second in the table with a record of 10-1.

This will be the second meeting between the two sides, as City of Edinburgh picked up a win in Portobello back in November. The home side had led by 16 before a late comeback from Rocks created an exciting end to the game as Kats took the win by one, 75-74.

Captain Emma Findlay is expecting a tough afternoon in Paisley:

“They will be up for the win from the start. Aggressive in defence and experienced in offence. They are a talented team and one I always enjoy playing against.

I think we have more similarities than differences. Equally strong around the perimeter and inside, pressured defence to force errors and the want to come away with the win. It will be a great game.”