Turner confident Blaze league form will heat up
Scotland and former Edinburgh Kings guard Laurie Costello, who has been plagued by a series of injuries, is expected to make his first appearance of the season and link up with another Scottish cap, his friend and former clubmate Kevin Anderson who has already been making his mark for his new team.
“Laurie’s not fully fit yet but wants to play and help the team,” said Blaze coach Simon Turner.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAnother former Kings player Davy Rowan, who caught the eye for Edinburgh University this week, top-scoring with 12 points in their away defeat to Leeds Carnegie, is also in the Blaze back court and drew praise from Turner: “He’s becoming much more aggressive in defence,” he said.
“Rowan, John Browne and Ben Warrington are making significant strides in their development but we’re still going through a learning process and have not yet had the same team for two consecutive games.”
“We’re coming together as a team however and are set to improve significantly as the season goes on.”
Still with only one league win in this their rookie season, Blaze had an easy win over Strathclyde League team Renfrew Rocks in the Scottish Cup last weekend and could be in line for a strong run in that competition as the draw has opened up for them.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThey face another non-national league side, Paisley’s PSG Gators, in the next round.
But not everyone is in favour of the controversial open draw which has the two strongest teams in the country, Kings and Falkirk Fury, both in the top half and almost certain to clash, robbing the competition of possibly the best final.
“Scottish basketball is not big enough to have an unseeded cup,” maintains Fury coach John Bunyan.
Bunyan however does approve of the moving of the cup final to February with more emphasis to be put on the National League play-offs which will now provide the end-of-season climax.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdKings and Fury have another clash on Saturday when their junior men’s teams play again at the Mariner, where last weekend Fury edged Kings by one point to knock them out of the cup.
Following that game, Fury entertain Edinburgh Kool Kats with the junior women of the two clubs clashing on Sunday.