DUNFERMLINE Reign were well beaten at home by reigning Scottish National League champions Falkirk Fury on Saturday.

Beginning the match with a line-up of Aiden Coils, Scott Hamilton, Kieran Lynch, Douglas Taylor and Eric Potts, coach James Steel had talked before the game about the need for Reign to stick to their fundamentals on offence and defence against such strong opposition and for the first quarter that’s exactly what Reign did.

Both teams struggled to score in the first two minutes but a rare jump shot from Hamilton three minutes into the match seemed to spark the game to life.

Falkirk, led by their professional Glasgow Rocks guard Johnny Bunyan, made some strong moves to the basket, resulting in a number of easy layups for the Fury big men.

However, Reign matched Falkirk for the majority of the first quarter thanks in no small part to the heroics of Cameron Boggan, who came off the bench midway through the quarter and scored seven points. The first quarter finished 17-13 in favour of the away side.

Unfortunately for Reign they could not maintain a consistent effort against the Fury onslaught in the second quarter.

Dunfermline’s play was riddled with bad shot attempts and turnovers and Fury won the quarter 20-7 to go into half-time with a commanding 17-point lead.

The third quarter was much more positive for the West Fifers, with the team matching Falkirk for much of the period. Callum O’Donnell (pictured) was particularly effective, scoring eight points in the quarter. However, again Reign were not able to match Falkirk defensively and ended up losing the quarter 21-15, effectively ending the match as a contest.

The final quarter was more positive for Reign, as they got back to basics and made a number of strong moves to the basket. The team moved the ball well and defended strongly. Reign won the quarter 12-10, meaning the final score was 70-45 in Falkirk’s favour.

Top scorers: Boggan 11, O’Donnell 10, Lynch 9, Taylor 7.

Coach Steel told Press Sport, “Nobody expected us to beat Falkirk but I did expect us to do a bit better in the spells when they turned the screw on us.

“The more resilient we are when challenged, the better position we will be in when it comes to the tight games we have a chance of winning.

“I am pleased with the approach of the team right now and looking forward to getting on the floor this weekend against Troon.” After a difficult start to the season, the schedule opens up for Reign with a number of very winnable games in the lead-up to Christmas. They will take their pursuit of a first win of the season on the road to Troon Tornadoes next week with a 4.45pm tip off at Belmont Academy.