Mighty Sports opens Jones Cup bid with win over Chinese Taipei

Games Monday:

1 p.m. – Japan vs Egypt

3 p.m. – Iran vs Cal State-Sacramento

5 p.m. – Korea vs Mighty Sports

7 p.m. – Chinese Taipei A vs India

 TAIPEI – Mighty Sports Apparels, a club team representing the Philippines, withstood Chinese Taipei’s efficient game spiked by a wondrous outside shooting, pulling off an 89-81 win to start its campaign in the 38th Jones Cup international basketball tournament at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium here Sunday night.

Mighty Sports’ imports used sheer talent to make up for a mere five-day preparation, picking up some rhythm late in the second period and holding on to frustrate the Taiwanese and the lustily cheering home crowd.

Korean league veteran Dewarick Antwain Spencer sizzled with five three-pointers and a game-high total of 27 points and Troy Gillenwater, another KBL mainstay, came through with 19 points and six rebounds as the Phl side stopped the Taiwanese, 24 hours after their 76-55 triumph over the Japanese.

Former PBA imports Hamady N’Diaye, Al Thornton, Michael Singletary, Vernon Macklin and Zach Graham and Fil-Am guard Jason Brickman helped out as Mighty Sports got off to a winning start, with a shot at a second straight win versus Korea at 5 p.m. Monday.

Through Day Two of the nine-day one-round-robin meet, the Philippines and Iran shared the lead, followed by the two Chinese Taipei teams, Korea, Japan, Egypt and Cal State-Sacramento all at 1-1.

“We got surprise in the first quarter when they zoned us. We’ve got talented players but we practiced playing against the zone just couples of days ago. But as the game progressed, good players that they are, they’re able to adjust,” said Mighty Sports coach Bo Perasol.

“In the beginning, we’re really surprised. They played zone and they were knocking their shots. We didn’t feel any rhythm. In the second and third quarters, we made a few runs as we put in motion the plays we practiced. We limited their rebounds and so we limited their transition offense,” said Spencer.

Cheng Liu, Taipei’s new top gun, frolicked with 5-of-10 three-pointers and 5-of-11 twinners for 25 points while another hitman Yi-hsiang Chou contributed 21 markers, joining forces to spearhead Taipei’s tough stand against the Phl side backed by Scratch It Pera-Pera Agad-Agad! and Symarom.

Trailing most of the first half, Mighty Sports raced ahead, 40-37, at halftime on a 13-to-nothing roll.

They then led by as many as 18 at 61-43 and kept the Taiwanese at bay the rest of the game.

Earlier in the day, Chinese Taipei B, Korea and Japan all bounced back from an opening-day loss, topping Egypt, Cal State-Sacramento and India, respectively.

The University Games-bound Taipei cadet team, reinforced by 6-foot-11 American center John Richard Florveus, stunned the Egyptians, 79-74; the Japanese clobbered the Indians, 89-70; while the Koreans mastered their American collegiate rivals, 63-48.

During the Saturday inaugurals titleholder Iran picked up steam in the second half and withstood the gritty challenge of Chinese Taipei B, 73-61.

Behnam Yakhchali and Sajjad Mashayekhi, among the new lead forces in the Iran national team, poured in the bulk of their combined 34-point output in the final half, leading the Iranians to a triumphant start in the tourney along with Chinese Taipei A, Egypt and Sacramento State featuring Taiwanese sophomore guard Jeff Wu.

Egypt squeaked past Korea, 74-73, while the Sacramento State Hornets barely survived India, 62-60.

The opening day was marred outside the playing venue by a rally of Taiwanese civic groups and activists calling on the government and sports authorities to change the team’s official name from Chinese Taipei to Taiwan.

“Taiwan is Taiwan,” chanted the protesters carrying banners that say: “Taiwan and China are two different countries.”

But the two Taiwanese teams were focused on the game with Taipei A overpowering a young Japanese team and Taipei B putting up a good fight against Iran through the first half.

The Egyptians nearly squandered an 18-point halftime lead and barely escaped with the win on misses by the Koreans in the closing seconds.

Lee Seoung-hyun split his charities in the last two seconds then the Koreans botched two field goal attempts.

The Hornets, meanwhile, survived a struggle in their game against the Indians that they played just a few hours after landing from a 12-hour flight from San Francisco.

The Americans’ original flight Thursday was canceled, so the team had to stay overnight in San Francisco before departing Friday morning. Tournament organizers pushed the team’s game six and a half hours in considering the Hornets’ tough travel situation.

The scores:

Mighty Sports 89 – Spencer 27, Gillenwater 19, N’Diaye 13, Graham 12, Singletary 7, Macklin 6, Thornton 5, Brickman 0, Salvacion 0, Teng 0, Avenido 0.

Chinese Taipei 81 – Cheng 25, Chou 21, Davis 11, Yang 11, Chang YA 5, Chen 5, Lee 2, Pou 1, Creighton 0, Chen SN 0.

Quarterscores: 14-27, 40-37, 65-52, 89-81.