Smart Gilas vies in Jones Cup invitational

MANILA, Philippines - Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas once again gets to test its mettle against some of the powerhouse teams in Asia as it competes in the 2010 William Jones Cup invitational tourney in Taipei from July 14-20.

Iran and Lebanon, now among the Middle Eastern teams dominating Asian basketball, are among the teams the Nationals will face in another tune-up tourney before the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in November.

Four other teams entered in the 2010 Jones Cup are Taiwan, Japan, the Townsville Crocodiles from the Australian league and the Taiwan University All Stars.

The Nationals leave the country tomorrow morning, two days before the start of the tournament where Powerade Team Pilipinas placed sixth last year.

Smart Gilas opens its campaign versus the Taiwan University All Stars at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

After an expected winning start, Smart Gilas then goes through tough challenges versus Iran on Thursday, the Crocodiles Friday, Taiwan on July 18, Japan on the 19th then Lebanon on the 20th.

It’s a single-round-robin affair with the best record automatically winning the championship.

Jordan topped the 2009 Jones Cup then went on to finish third in the Tianjin FIBA Asia championship to gain a seat in the coming world joust in Turkey.

Smart Gilas humbled Jordan in the recent MVP Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, making the Nationals confident they’re on track in their preparation for the Asian Games and the Olympic qualifier next year.

Marcus Douthit, Smart Gilas’ naturalization prospect, leads the RP team lineup including Fil-foreign players Mark Lassiter and Chris Lutz and homegrown aces Mac Baracael, JV Casio, Mark Barroca, Chris Tiu and Dylan Ababou.

Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar help Douthit man the paint.