Mighty Sports-Go For Gold Philippines’ second Jones Cup stint was just as dominant as their first one three years ago.
Behind Joseph Yeo’s inspirational outing and McKenzie Moore’s late surge, the Philippine-based club team eked out an 81-71 win over Chinese-Taipei White, Sunday evening at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City.
This is Mighty Sports’ 16th straight win in the annual meet. And Moore made sure that the HealthCube-backed squad picked up the club’s second Jones Cup with a sweep.
Up by just two early in the final frame, Roosevelt Adams connected on a timely triple before Moore took charge. The 183-cm tall swingman scored on the foul stripe before slamming a tomahawk jam to cap a 14-4 run to give Mighty Sports a 73-61 lead with 4:14 left.
And he was not done yet, as Moore slammed another one with 1:33 left to break the will of the host.
Moore had 16 points in the game to go along with five assists and four steals as Renaldo Balkman did not play in the game.
“We missed the energy and power of Renaldo, but it was a good win for the team. Everybody contributed,” said Mighty head coach Charles Tiu.
Photo from Cignal-SBP
Joseph Yeo provided the spark earlier for Mighty Sports, scoring all 11 of his points in the second frame.
Eugene Phelps led the way anew for the squad with 24 points and 13 rebounds.
Mikey Williams and Adams were also instrumental in the win – the former tallied seven points, four assists, and three rebounds, while the latter had six points and three boards.
“As they say, it’s sweeter the second time around. The boys really played well,” said Mighty Sports owner Alex Wongchuking. “We’re also happy because we gave our kababayans here real entertainment.”
All 10 players fielded in by Tiu scored.
This is the Philippines’ sixth Jones Cup.
The Ron Jacobs-mentored Northern Consolidated ruled the 1981 and 1986 editions of this tournament; the Philippine Centennial team won in 1998; Gilas Pilipinas reigned supreme in 2012; and Mighty Sports bagged its first Jones Cup in 2016.
Yung Cheng Wu paced the Taiwanese with 15 markers.
The Scores:
Mighty Sports 81 – Phelps 24, Moore 16, Yeo 11, Williams 7, N’Diaye 7, Adams 6, Brickman 4, Gray 2, Black 2, Wongchuking 2.
Chinese Taipei White 71 – Wu, Y. 15, Lin, K. 10, Chou 10, Wu, C. 9, Lin, T. 8, Tseng 7, Chen 6, Hsieh 2, Sun 2, Huang 2, Lai 0, Su 0.
Quarterscores: 15-16, 40-32, 59-55, 81-71.
