Jordan won 2007 Jones Cup, Rashiem Wright (middle) named MVP.
Jordan won the 2007 William Jones Cup Tournament champion with a 7-2 record although it suffered a shocking 102-101 overtime loss to Japan WUG squad in its last game. Japan's seldom-used substitute Shusaka Oya made his only field goal in the game with a left hook at the buzzer to pull off the unbelievable win.
Jordan won 2007 Jones Cup, Rashiem Wright (middle) named MVP.
Jordan won the 2007 William Jones Cup Tournament champion with a 7-2 record although it suffered a shocking 102-101 overtime loss to Japan WUG squad in its last game. Japan's seldom-used substitute Shusaka Oya made his only field goal in the game with a left hook at the buzzer to pull off the unbelievable win.
LIB: Fadi Khatib 21p, Ali Mahmoud 14p, Bassem Balaa 11p+10rb, Roy Samaha 12p QAT: K.S. Abdi 23p, Yasseen Ismail Musa 17p+6rb
-- South Korea 82-59 Taiwan
Korea starting forward Kim Joo-sung proves he was ready for the Asian Championship by tallying 22 points on 9 of 10 shooting and pulled down 9 rebounds in the lopsided 82-59 win. Taiwan's hot outside shooting in its previous game vs. AIA suddenly went cold again, making only 17 of 58 shots.
Taiwan NT finished 7th with 5 wins and 4 losses.
KOR: Kim Joo-sung 22p(9-10 FG)+9rb, Ha Seung-jin 14p+9rb+5blk, Kim Dong-woo 10p TWN: Wu Dai-hao 17p, Tsun Wen-din 10p+7rb
-- Kazakhstan 107-90 Philippines
Kazakhstan shocked Philippines with a 31-18 fourth quarter rally.
Philippines won bronze.
KAZ: A. Ponomarev 23p, R. Yargarliyev 28p, A. Tyutyunik 12p, Y. Issakov 11p, M. Yevstigneyev 10p, A. Shpekht 10p PHI: Jimmy Alapag 21p, Mark Caguioa 24p, Kelly Williams 13p+8rb, D. Hontiveros 14p
-- Iran 91-74 AIA
Iran rallied in the second half when they outscored the Aemricans 50-28. Iran sank 14 of 28 three-point field goal attempts.
IRN: M.S. Nikkah Bahrami 25p+6rb+5a, H. Hadadi 18p+12rb, Aidin Nikkah Bahrami 18p, H.A. Eslamieh 12p, Amir Amini 10p+8a AIA: C. Hammonds 20p, T. Hendley 18p, R. Rawlings 13p+9rb
Chen Hsin-an
-- Jordan 72-71 Iran
The Asian Championship is still three weeks away, but Jordan will convince itself that it was ready for the challenge.
Jordan closed out the game with a 27-17 rally in the 4th quarter to upset Iran 72-71 and avenged the loss to Iran in the bronze medal game of the Doha Asian Game last year.
Chen Hsin-an
-- Jordan 72-71 Iran
The Asian Championship is still three weeks away, but Jordan will convince itself that it was ready for the challenge.
Jordan closed out the game with a 27-17 rally in the 4th quarter to upset Iran 72-71 and avenged the loss to Iran in the bronze medal game of the Doha Asian Game last year. With the win, Jordan clinched its first ever Jones Cup title with a 7-1 record with one game to play.
Zaid Al Khas scored six of his nine points in the final minute, when he sank a three with 52 seconds to tie the score at 69 all and, after Iran's Hamed Hadadi made a pair of free-throws, dropped another go-ahead three with 17.6 seconds left to make the final score 72-71.
JOR: R. Wright 25p, O. Daghles 16p+7rb, Z. Al Khas 9p IRN: M.S. Nikkah Bahrami 14p+6rb, H. Hadadi 13p
-- Taiwan 83-72 AIA
Surprisingly, Taiwan NT played its best game in the tournament without the service of bigmen Tien Lei and Tsun Wen-din. The home team made 14 treys and led from start to finish in the win over Athletes in Action 83-72 Monday night.
Taiwan led 21-14 after the first quarter. Lin Chih-jay was 4 for 4 from the three-point land in the second quarter and helped Taiwan increase the lead to 43-30 at the half.
Chen Hsin-an, who has been very quiet in the tournament, then single-handedly took over the third quarter when he made four consecutive threes to boost the score to 65-51.
Wu Dai-hao stepped up his game and filled up the void left by Tsun and Tien, scoring 22 points on 10 for 18 shooting to go with two blocks and 8 boards.
TWN: Wu Dai-hao 22p(10-17 FG)+8rb+4a+2blk, Chen Hsin-an 20p(5-9 3PT), Lin Chih-jay 19p(5-8 3PT)+8rb AIA: C. Hammonds 14p, R. Rawlings 14p+9rb, B. Asbury 13p, A. Ruoff 12p
-- Philippines 88-80 Qatar
Chot Reyes became the first head coach to be ejected in the Jones Cup in the past 10 years but his boys didn't let him down. Philippines withheld Qatar's furious rally and secured a 88-80 win to boost its record to 5 wins and 3 losses.
Reyes received two technical fouls for his protest and was ejected with 30.4 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Qatar seized the moment for a 5-0 run to cut the deficit down 8 points, 62-54.
But Philippines didn't panic as it enjoyed a double-digit lead for most of the final quarter before Qatar made the final push. With one minute left Qatar once again rallied and stayed close with 85-80. Kirby Raymundo and Kelly Williams then calmly made three of four free-throw to seal the victory.
PHI: M. Caguioa 14p, D. Hontiveros 13p, K. Williams 13p QAT: Yasseen Ismail Musa 19p+7rb, E.A. Saeed 19p+12rb, O.A. Salem 14p+14rb
-- South Korea 81-78 Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan was ready to pull off one of the biggest upset in the tournament before Korean finally woke up and took advantage with their experience. South Korea ignited a 27-18 run in the final quarter to spoil the game for Kazakhstan. The final score was 81-78, South Korea.
However, the outcome was not decided before a controversial technical foul with less than a minute to play. Kazahstan head coach Vitaliy Strebkov was assessed a technical by Taiwanese referee Hsu Teh-jun for his protest with 38.9 seconds left and the score tied at 77 all.
South Korea received two free-throws plus a possession and scored three points to shake off the Kazakhs. Anton Ponomarev failed to covert his desperation three-pointer at the final buzzer.
Kazakhstan was also whistle for a technical with 2:42 left to play.
KOR: Ha Seung-jin 14p, Yang Hee-jong 14p, Kim Joo-sung 12p, Yang Dong-guen 12p, Kim Dong-woo 11p, Kim Min-soo 10p KAZ: A. Ponomarev 23p+7rb, Korovnikov 23p+6rb, A. Tyutyunik 11p
-- Lebanon 82-74 Japan
Lebanon took advantage of its height and experience in the game and led by as many as 20 points for an easy win. Japan was outrebounded 55-26.
LIB: Fadi Khatib 25p+9rb+6a JAP: Y. Okada 23p, S. Kikuchi 17p
-- Standing Jordan 7-1 AIA 5-3 Lebanon 5-3 Philippines 5-3 Taiwan 5-3 Iran 4-4 South Korea 4-4 Qatar 3-5 Kazakhstan 1-7Japan 1-7
Jones Cup Day 7 - Philippines routed Taiwan on solid guard play
Led by Mark Caguioa and Jimmy Alapag, Philippine backcourts turned the game into their playground and scored at will against Taiwan's defense time and again for a 82-64 victory Sunday.
Caguioa had 20 points, including 12 in the first quarter, Alapag had 15 while Anthony Helterbrand and Donaldo Hontiveros added 9 points each.
Led by Mark Caguioa and Jimmy Alapag, Philippine backcourts turned the game into their playground and scored at will against Taiwan's defense time and again for a 82-64 victory Sunday.
Caguioa had 20 points, including 12 in the first quarter, Alapag had 15 while Anthony Helterbrand and Donaldo Hontiveros added 9 points each. Philippine backcourts dominated the game from the first minute and pretty much decided the outcome.
Taiwan could never contain Philippine attack with its man-to-man defense. The interesting thing was Taiwan head coach Chung Kwang Hee decided to stick with it instead of switching to zone defense.
Philippines kept attacking and increased the lead to 18 points at the end of the third quarter. Lin Chih-jay made three cosecutive threes and cut the deficit to 11 points with 7:18 to go, but that was as close as Taiwan could get.
PHI: Mark Caguioa 20p, Jimmy Alapag 15p, A. Helterbrand 9p, D. Hontiveros 9p TWN: Lin Chih-jay 22p(6-12 3PT), Wu Dai-hao 13p+7rb+5blk, Lin Yi-huei 11p
After six days, Jordan was on top of the 10-team field of the 2007 Jones Cup with a 5-1 record. It looked like a surprise, didn't it? Not until you actually see Jordan play.
Under Portugese head coach Mario Palma, who led Angola NT to 2000 and 2004 Olympics, Jordan has been playing with a well-organized offense.
After six days, Jordan was on top of the 10-team field of the 2007 Jones Cup with a 5-1 record. It looked like a surprise, didn't it? Not until you actually see Jordan play.
Under Portugese head coach Mario Palma, who led Angola NT to 2000 and 2004 Olympics, Jordan has been playing with a well-organized offense. Jordanian forntlines Al Khas and Idais both can play inside and out, Islam Abbas is the enforcer on the team. And Jordanian guards have been showing consistency.
-- Taiwan 75-70 Qatar
SBL MVP Lin Chi-Jay (192-G-82) had one of his best international games Saturday, scoring 30 points and leading Taiwan NT to a 75-70 win over Qatar to boost Taiwan's record to 4-2 and tied with AIA in the second place.
Lin scored 7 points in a 9-0 run that increased Taiwan's lead to 14 points midway through the third quarter. He made 7 of 14 treys and was 5 for 5 from the charity stripe in the game.
Qatar cut the deficit to one point with less than 30 seconds to play. Tsun Wen-din had a three-point play with 20.1 seconds remaining to push the lead back to four points, grabbed an important defensive rebound and made one of two free-throws to make the score 73-68, Taiwan.
Taiwan lost to Qatar 103-96 in an epic double-overtime battle in the quarterfinal of last year's Doha Asian Games, but it has defeated Qatar three straight times in the Jones Cup during the last two years.
Taiwan beat Qatar to avenge its loss against Qatar in the Asian Games
TWN: Lin Chi-Jay 30p(7-14 3PT), Wu Dai-hao 12p+9rb, Tsun Wen-din 9p+6rb+3s+3blk, Chen Hsin-an 8p QAT: E.A. Saeed 21p+6rb, Saad Abdulrahman Ali 15p+7rb+3s, Yasseen Ismail Musa 12p+8rb, D.A. Daoud 12p
-- Jordan 72-68 Lebanon
In this heated battle of two West Asia nations, Jordan rested its frontcourts Zaid Al Khas and both Ayman Idais and Islam Abbas played less than 20 minutes.
AIA: Reed Rawlings 25p, Alex Ruoff 18p+7rb, Zack Gibson 12p+9rb, Donald Sloan 12p, Brian Asbury 11p KAZ: Anton Ponomarev 19p+10rb, Rustam Yargarliev 15p, M. Yevstigneyev 17p
-- Philippines 89-79 Iran
Philippines dropped 10 three-pointers in the game and opened up the game with a 32-22 second quarter.
PHI: James Yap 18p, Jimmy Alapag 14p+8a, Mark Caguioa 14p, Kelly Williams 12p IRN: M.S. Nikkah Bahrami 22p, Hamed Hadadi 14p+14rb, Aidin Nikkah Bahrami 16p, Amir Amini 12p
-- South Korea 102-58 Japan
KOR: Yang Dong-guen 20p+5a, Kim Dong-woo 18p+7rb, Lee Dong-jun 18p+11rb, Cha Jae-young 12p, Yang Hee-jong 11p, Ha Seung-jin 10p+8rb JAP: Yusuke Okada 12p, Takumi Ishizaki 10p
-- Standing Jordan 5-1 AIA 4-2 Taiwan 4-2 Iran 3-3 Lebanon 3-3 Philippines 3-3 Qatar 3-3 South Korea 3-3 Japan 1-5 Kazakhstan 1-5
-- Taiwan 72-64 Kazakhstan
Taiwan's "Twin Tower" got plenty of help tonight. Yang Che-Yi (193-F-78) led a 13-0 run in the third quarter and the Twin Tower Tsun Wen-din and Wu Dai-hao were still brilliant as Taiwan beat Kazakhstan 72-64 for its third win in the tournament.
-- Taiwan 72-64 Kazakhstan
Taiwan's "Twin Tower" got plenty of help tonight. Yang Che-Yi (193-F-78) led a 13-0 run in the third quarter and the Twin Tower Tsun Wen-din and Wu Dai-hao were still brilliant as Taiwan beat Kazakhstan 72-64 for its third win in the tournament.
The unanswered run sparked a 20-10 third quarter, when Taiwan played its best zone defense in the tourney so far, to open Taiwan's lead to 58-45 going into the final quarter. Kazakhstan couldn't drain their outside shots and never recovered.
TWN: Yang Che-Yi 18p(7-12 FG), Lee Hsueh-lin 15p, Wu Dai-hao 13p+10rb, Tsun Wen-din 10p+6a+5blk, Lin Chih-jay 10p KAZ: Anton Ponomarev 20p+12rb, Rustam Yargarliev 12p, Mikhail Yevstigneyev 12p+10rb
-- Iran 68-61 South Korea
IRN: M.S. Nikkah Bahrami 20p, Hamed Ehadadi 16p(7-16 FG, 2-3 FT)+15rb+4s+2blk KOR: Ha Seung-jin 12p(4-8 FG, 4-12 FT)+10rb+4blk, Cha Jae-young 16p, Kim Dong-woo 12p
-- Standing: Jordan 4-1 AIA 3-2 Iran 3-2 Lebanon 3-2 Qatar 3-2 Taiwan 3-2 Philippines 2-3 South Korea 2-3 Japan 1-4 Kazakhstan 1-4
-- Jordan 74-70 Philippines
Jordan controlled the momentum for the entire game with its inside advantage while the Philippines could only counter with its backcourt as Mark Caguioa and Jimmy Alapag combined for 42 points.
JOR: Jamal Almaaytah 18p+5rb, Ayman Idais 15p+7rb, Islam Abbas 6p+12rb
PHI: Mark Caguioa 25p(11-23 FG)+7rb, Jimmy Alapag 17p
-- Qatar 86-68 Japan
QAT: E.
-- Jordan 74-70 Philippines
Jordan controlled the momentum for the entire game with its inside advantage while the Philippines could only counter with its backcourt as Mark Caguioa and Jimmy Alapag combined for 42 points.
JOR: Jamal Almaaytah 18p+5rb, Ayman Idais 15p+7rb, Islam Abbas 6p+12rb PHI: Mark Caguioa 25p(11-23 FG)+7rb, Jimmy Alapag 17p
-- Qatar 86-68 Japan
QAT: E.A. Saeed 29p+18rb+3blk Ali Turki Ali 16p, M.S. Abdulla 14p+9rb JAP: Shohei Kikuchi 21p
-- AIA 81-70 Lebanon
Lebanon's Fadi Khatib was scoreless in 19 minutes as Lebanon dropped two straight after a 3-0 start.
AIA: Reed Rawlings 17p, Todd Hendley 15p+7rb, Brian Asbury 14p, Donald Sloan 11p, Zack Gibson 10p LIB: Joe Vogel 29p+8rb, Ali Mahmoud 12p
Another day. Another banked-in three-pointer at the buzzer. There's definitely something weird with this year's Jones Cup tournament.
Lin Chih-jay banked in a game-tying three at the buzzer with two Lebanese defenders in his face to force overtime. And Tsun Wen-Din (203-C-84) scored underneath on an offensive rebound off a Chen Hsin-an miss with 0.
Another day. Another banked-in three-pointer at the buzzer. There's definitely something weird with this year's Jones Cup tournament.
Lin Chih-jay banked in a game-tying three at the buzzer with two Lebanese defenders in his face to force overtime. And Tsun Wen-Din (203-C-84) scored underneath on an offensive rebound off a Chen Hsin-an miss with 0.3 second left in the extra session as Taiwan upset previously undefeated Lebanon 78-77.
There has been something magical in this year's tournament, especially when it came to three-pointers and the last shots.
Rony Fahed banked in a three at the buzzer to help Lebanon beat Philippines 65-62. Lin banked in a three to take the game into overtime tonight. South Korea's Kim Dong-woo also banked in a three to tie the game vs. Qatar one the opening day before Kim Min-soo tipped in a winner for a 70-69 win.
Also on Day 1, Jordan beat Kazakhstan 63-61 on Ayman Idais' backdoor layup with 2.5 seconds left. On Day 3, Yusuke Otada scored the winning fastbreak layup off a steal with one second left as Japan upset Philippines 86-84
Lebanon was ready to embrace its fourth straight win with 8.8 seconds left in regulation when Fadi Khatib stepped on the free-throw line. All he had to do was to score one more point to ensure the win. However, Khatib missed both and gave Taiwan a last chance.
Lee Hsueh-lin pushed the ball and dished to Lin, who popped out from a screen to the right wing and released the high-arching desperation although he was sandwiched by two Lebanese defenders.
Led by frontcourt tandem of Tsun Wen-Din and Wu Dai-hao, Taiwan led by as many as 15 points in the game. Things changed after both players got into foul trouble in the final quarter. Relentless attack by Khatib and Joe Vogel helped Lebanon to pull ahead with two minutes remaining.
Both team had a hard time to score in the overtime due to fatigue. With 15 seconds left to play, Taiwan had one last chance to pull off a victory as Chen Hsin-an was designated for the last shot. Chen didn't take the ball to the basket, however, choosing to shoot a three instead. As defenders focused on Chen, Tsun Wen-Din grabbed the offensive rebound and scored the winning layup with 0.3 second left.
TWN: Tsun Wen-Din 19p(7-14 FG)+13rb+4a+2blk, Wu Dai-hao 14p(7-9 FG)+5rb+4a+3blk, Chen Hsin-an 13p, Yang Che-yi 11p, Lin Chih-jay 8p LEB: Fadi Khatib 33p(11-24 FG, 8-12 FT), Joe Vogel 18p+14rb, Ali Mahmoud 9p+5a
-- Philippines 88-84 South Korea
Once again, the outcome of the game came down to the last minute for the Philippines. And they seized the opportunity this time.
Gabe Norwood, who came from George Mason University, had a game-clinching power dunk with 10.5 seconds left to give the Philippines a comforatble six point lead, and eventually a 88-84 victory over South Korea.
The Philippines ended its two game slide and is is back in the tournament as six teams tied with a 2-2 record after four days of action.
PHI: Mark Caguioa 19p, Donaldo Hontiveros 14p, Gabe Norwood 12p, Asi Taulava 7p+7rb KOR: Kim Dong-woo 20p, Kang Byung-hyun 16p+5a, Kim Min-soo 14p+6rb, Kim Seung-hyun 9p+7a+4s
-- Jordan 69-66 AIA
Rashiem Wright, an American who obtained Jordanian citizenship, scored 8 points in the last 2:22 to lift Jordan to the top of the standing with three wins and one loss.
JOR: Rashiem Wright 20p+4rb+4a, Islam Abbas 13p+8rb, Osama Daghles 10p, Ayman Idais DNP AIA: Brian Asbury 14p, Reed Rawings 12p, Donald Sloan 10p
-- Iran 86-59 Japan
Iran limited Japan to 2 for 23 in three-point land.
Yasseen Ismail Musa scored a tournament-high 35 points.
QAT: Yasseen Ismail Musa 35p(12-18 FG, 11-14 FT), O.A. Salem 13p+10rb, Saad Abdulrahman Ali 6p+13rb KAZ: Anton Ponomarev 23p+13rb, Rustam Yargaliyev 12p, Alexandr Tyutyunik 11p
-- Standing: Jordan 3-1 Lebanon 3-1 AIA 2-2 Iran 2-2 Qatar 2-2 Philippines 2-2 South Korea 2-2 Taiwan 2-2 Japan 1-3 Kazakhstan 1-3
