Basketball: Reilly racks up big points tally as Kings crush Glasgow

Edinburgh KINGS star forward Edgars Rekis, who has been consistently the basketball team’s top scorer this season, was full of praise for the Capital side’s teenage point guard Lee Reilly after his impressive tally of 29 points in Kings’ 90-49 demolition of Glasgow University at Portobello High School on Saturday.

“Lee had a great game,” said Rekis, who by his own recent high standards had a quiet afternoon, scoring 11 points and taking five rebounds. The depleted students, five of whom recently quit, forcing coach Mike Lawton to pull on a strip, still shaded the rebounds led by ex-Kings junior Calum Nicol with 10, so it was probably just as well that Reilly was in form. But Kings’ ball movement was outstanding in the second half as they scored 48 points after a sluggish start, they led 42-25 at half-time.

In all there were five home wins at Portobello on Saturday, the cadet men perhaps being the most impressive in their 82-45 defeat of Highland Bears, who had until then also been unbeaten. Gregor Gray had a whopping 28 points, most of them from delightful base-line drives but coach Stephen Dickson was also full of praise for point guard Finlay Wood, who reacted well to the full court pressure of the energetic Bears.

Gray also had 12 points in the junior men’s 72-60 win over Perth Phoenix in which Matt Wilcox matched Reilly’s 29 points for the seniors.

Kool Kats junior women fought back from eight points down in the closing minutes to beat Polonia Phoenix 56-55, helped by 19 points from Kirsten Simpson and 14 from Kirsty Edwards. The cadette women had already beaten their close local rivals Phoenix 46-33.

On Friday, Kings’ Lothian League side, the holders, ousted Boroughmuir from the Scottish Chairman’s Cup 66-55. But Blaze had something to cheer On Saturday when their juniors beat Falkirk Fury 52-50 in a game switched from St Thomas’s to St Augustine’s.

“They closed out the game very well in the fourth quarter,” said senior coach Simon Turner whose men’s team were overpowered by Fury 74-45.