Scotland’s historic run at the 2018 Commonwealth Games came to an end with a 79-69 defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Despite a strong start, New Zealand would eventually wear Scotland down, using a late run in the third quarter to gain a cushion and then hold off a Scottish rally down the stretch.
Jonny Bunyan led Scotland with 13 points and 5 assists, Ali Fraser had 12 whilst Mike Vigor joined them in double figures with 10. Thomas Abercrombie was dominant for New Zealand with a 26-point outing.
These guys deserve to be incredibly proud of what they achieved during this @GC2018 campaign. All their hard work has paid off and they have made history for Scottish basketball! pic.twitter.com/3msFD12UL6
— basketballscotland (@basketballscot) April 15, 2018
And even with the loss, the team will go down in the record books as the first Scottish team to make a semi-final at the Commonwealth games, meanwhile it will also be remembered as Kieron Achara’s final Scotland National Team campaign. Achara took to Twitter after the game to reveal it was his final curtain call with the squad:
“I want to thank everyone who has supported our Commonwealth Games Journey. You helped keep us motivated and gave us that push through the hard times. We gave our absolute all to medal and came up short, it hurts now but I know we will look back at this experience with pride.
“This will be my last time suiting up for the Scotland team and think the future is definitely bright. Thanks for the memories. Scotland I truly love you.”
Beating New Zealand was always a big ask, but Scotland fought valiantly whilst shining a light on the steps forward the nation has made in recent years.
Meanwhile, Australia dominated Canada 87-47 to claim the Gold medal.
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