Basketball round-up: Kool Kats lose grasp on Scottish Cup

Last weekend's Scottish Basketball Cup ties began with a bang as defending ladies champions City of Edinburgh Kool Kats saw the trophy ripped from their grasp by St Mirren Saints in Paisley.

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Kats went into the game unbeaten after winning at Edinburgh University just 48 hours earlier, but they soon found themselves dragged into deep water at The Lagoon Leisure Centre. Saints led by 11 points at the end of the first quarter and by 20 going into the final period, and although Kats launched a stirring fightback in a desperate bid to hold on to their title, they eventually bowed out 76-69.

City of Edinburgh Kings had no such problems as they eased through to the men’s quarter-finals with a convincing away win at Ayrshire Tornadoes. Twenty points from youngster Kyle Jimenez crowned a 90-65 victory, and coach Craig Nicol’s side now face an intriguing trip to St Mirren in the last eight.

Boroughmuir Blaze also progressed by defeating Heriot-Watt University 83-56 at The Crags Centre, Ben Warrington leading the scorers with 26 points as Blaze bounced back from their shock league defeat in Dunfermline. They play Stirling Knights in the quarter-finals.

Pleasance Basketball Club continued their strong early-season form with an 80-63 win at Portlethen Panthers. The cosmopolitan attacking talents of Rokas Stonys, Julio Flores and Dominykas Dabulskis contributed 55 points between them to secure a home quarter-final with Edinburgh University, who thrashed East Warriors Aberdeen 92-36.

A sixth capital team, Edinburgh Lions, went down 74-48 at Glasgow Storm, while in the women’s league, Polonia Phoenix finally broke their duck by winning 46-35 at Glasgow University.