Taiwan defeats Japan in Jones Cup men’s basketball opener

The men’s basketball competition for the 43rd William Jones Cup got underway at Xinzhuang Stadium on Saturday (July 13), with Taiwan’s Blue team defeating Japan by a score of 85-65. Taiwan’s Blue team is comprised of older, professional players such as Chen Ray (182-PG-1993, college: Liberty) and Cheng-Yen Liu (173-G-2001), along with the Hinton brothers and newly naturalized player, Gilbeck Brandon (213-C-1996, college: W.Illinois). The team is coached by recently promoted national team coach Gianluca Tucci from Italy. The Taiwan Blue team faced the Japanese U22 national team in the tournament's first match and had trouble finding its offensive footing in the first quarter, falling behind by 12 points. Taiwan recovered in the second quarter by switching to a smaller line-up emphasizing defense, per WowSight. "From being behind by 12 points to leading by 22 points, it means that we worked hard for those 30 points. However, our overall free throw and three-point shooting were not ideal. But our defensive effort was good and yielded very good results," said Taiwan Blue coach Tucci. He praised the team for their hard work and effort, especially on defense, which forced 20 turnovers. Tucci also thanked enthusiastic fans in the audience, which created a great home atmosphere. As for the new center, Gilbeck, who also plays in the PLG+, he was still getting accustomed to his new team but showed signs of improvement. According to fellow teammate Chen Ray, "He is a good player who has a lot of ability, works very hard in competition and training, and will definitely get better and better.” While the Taiwan Blue team had little trouble against Japan, the younger Taiwan White team struggled late in their game against Malaysia. Initially, up by 12 points early in the competition, fortunes reversed in the third quarter, leading to a 79-84 loss. National Chengchi University’s Mouhamed Lamine Mbaye joined the Taiwan White team less than a week ago and had 26 points and 8 rebounds. "I'm very excited to put on the Taiwan team jersey for the first time and represent Taiwan. I'm very happy to be able to fight with my college teammates," said Mbaye. He expressed some frustration with his performance, noting that neither his rebounding nor his defense was good enough. Taiwan White coach Sang Mao-sen said many are playing in the Jones Cup for the first time as university students or new graduates. "The future for this team is good, but they are young and made too many mistakes, which allowed the opponent to take too many free throws. Overall, I think our performance was good.”
In other men's Jones Cup competition, the Philippines defeated the United Arab Emirates national team 104-79 and the U.S. won a close-fought match against Australia by a score of 69-65.
Courtesy of: taiwannews.com.tw