Mighty Sports-PH blows out Iran U23 to open Jones Cup campaign

Mighty Sports-Go for Gold Philippines continued where they left off three years ago in Taiwan, scoring an emphatic 98-72 victory over the Under-23 squad of Iran, Friday afternoon at the Xinzhuang Gym in New Taipei City.

Though it was the imports that led the whitewashing, Filipino-American Jeremiah Gray was still able to make a good account of himself, finishing with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. The 6-foot-6 swingman was also a plus-21 in 21 minutes of game time.

The Philippine-based club team, who is also backed by Health Cube, had a field day right from the get-go, leading 21-12 to end the opening frame and extending it to a 46-33 cushion entering the second half.

Eugene Phelps led the way for Mighty Sports with 25 points while McKenzie Moore added 15 markers. Renaldo Balkman chipped in 10 markers as well.

Mighty Sports would lead by as much as 34 points, 87-53, after a Jason Brickman alley-oop to Hamady N’Diaye.

Brickman had five assists while fellow Fil-Am guard Mikey Williams tallied 10 points as well.

This is Mighty Sports’ ninth straight win in the pocket tournament.

Vahid Dalirzahan, who also played for Iran in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, had 14 points to pace Iran. Amirhossein Azari and Mohammad Vand added 12 markers each for last year’s silver-medalists.

Mighty Sports will next face Jordan on Saturday, July 13 at 1:00 pm.

The Scores:

Mighty Sports 98 — Phelps 24, Gray 16, Moore 15, Balkman 10, Williams 10, N’Diaye 9, Black 6, Adams 5, Brickman 3, Banal 0, Graham 0, Wongchuking 0.

Iran-U23 72 — V. Dalirzahan 14, Azari 12, Yousof Vand 12, Vahedi 8, Torabi 7, Monji 7, E. Dalirzahan 6, Dro 4, Bahram Zad 1, Miri 1, Aghajanpour 0.

Quarterscores: 21-12, 46-33, 78-51, 98-72.