Mighty claims Jones Cup crown

Renaldo Balkman

Mighty Sports Apparel Phl hammered out a convincing 97-74 win over host Chinese Taipei A Saturday night to all but wrap up the 41st William Jones Cup crown at the Xinzhuang Gym in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The Philippine bet extended their unscathed campaign to 7-0, guaranteeing a repeat of their title run in 2016 even with one game left against Chinese Taipei B at the close of the tourney last night. Regardless of the result, Mighty Sports would win the crown even in case of a tie with South Korea at 7-1. The Philippine representative topped the Koreans, 80-82. But coach Charles Tiu and his wards were keen on matching Mighty Sports' sweep feat three years ago. Renaldo Balkman (203-F-84, college: S.Carolina, agency: Aspire Sports) once again spearheaded Mighty's attack with 21 points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks in only 23 minutes of play. Eugene Phelps (198-F-90, college: LBSU) chipped in a 17-9 point-rebound output while Roosevelt Adams and McKenzie Moore (198-G-92, college: UTEP) added 13 and 10 markers, respectively. Ying-Chun Chen (183-PG-93) and Chi-Wei Lee (192-G/F-93), on the other hand, piled up 19 and 13 points, respectively, in the foiled effort for the Taiwanese whose gold medal hopes vanished into thin air. Chinese Taipei A fell to 5-2 and was relegated to a virtual silver-medal match against SoKor (6-1) at the end of the prestigious eight-team Asian invitational crown.
Courtesy of: philstar.com