Perth Phoenix rise from 13 points down to dethrone capital’s Kings

Perth Phoenix produced their best display of the season to come from behind and defeat City of Edinburgh Kings 67-63 in the Scottish League at Perth High School on Monday night.

Down 13 points at the start of the final quarter Phoenix not only put paid to any hopes their highly regarded visitors might have had of winning the league title, but also ensured that there would be first division men’s basketball on the banks of the Tay again next season.

Perth have only two games left of their regular season fixtures, both against bottom side Ayrshire Tornadoes.

One is at home on Saturday and the other a postponed game still to be rearranged but Perth on this form should win both.

“That was a great win for us and showed the strides we’ve been making this season by beating one of the top clubs in the country,” said coach Lawrie Hill.

“We changed our defence at the start of the fourth quarter and got hot in offence – it was a complete team performance,” he said.

Joe Scott led the home scoring with 20 points as well as giving five assists, Bradley Cable scored 14 and took nine rebounds, Robbie Ferguson added eight and 14 rebounds while David Milne also scored 14 points.

Perth Phoenix’s women, meanwhile, beat Glasgow Fever 74-56 away, while Cumbernauld Lady Rocks repeat their Cup final success over Edinburgh Kats by a much bigger 82-58 to wrap up the women’s title.

Dunfermline Reign’s hopes were finally dashed as they went down 90-63 away to Falkirk Fury, leaving Fury and St Mirren to fight it out for the men’s title.