Day 1 of the 2012 Jones Cup

SMART-Gilas 2.0 wins its first assignment in the
considerably diluted 2012 Jones Cup.
(image from the SMART-Gilas Facebook page)

What follows is simply a re-post of a game recap written by Mikkel Bolante of InterAKTV.com.

I've found it really frustrating that there is a scarcity of information on the 2012 Jones Cup online. The site is inaccessible as of now, so I have no images or box scores from the actual event. My usual resource person, Chris Wang of Taiwan Hoops, also seems to have problems with it. 

AND, ESPN Asia isn't covering the event for the first time ever. Does this mean that the Jones Cup is losing its relevance, or that they just botched the job of getting sponsors?! Haaaaay.

Anyway, props to Mikkel for a good read:

PHILIPPINES over JORDAN, 88-78

The SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team hurdled its first challenge as a team, defeating the Rasheim Wright-led Jordan national team, 88-78, to open its campaign in the 34th William Jones Cup in Taiwan.

Naturalized center Marcus Douthit finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds despite playing limited minutes in the first half while Gary David had 13 to pace the Filipinos. Shooters Jeff Chan and Larry Fonacier added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Philippines had a strong start, leading by nine points, 25-16, after the first quarter.

But with Douthit sitting out due to foul trouble, Jordan made a strong comeback, going on a 15-3 run to close out the second period and reclaim the lead before halftime.

Jordan led by as much as seven points early in the third before Douthit and Sol Mercado took over to turn things around for the Philippines. The pair scored 14 of the team’s 30 points in the quarter as the Filipinos outscored the Jordanians by 15 points in the third.

Ranidel De Ocampo capped off the quarter with a three-pointer at the buzzer.

But Wright, a familiar opponent of recent national teams, led Jordan on a big rally in the final period, coming to within two points, 76-74, with under three minutes remaining.

Douthit hit a free throw and Gabe Norwood got a big three-point play in transition to give SMART-Gilas a six-point lead. After a basket from Jordan, Larry Fonacier added a triple to bring the lead up to seven with less than a minute remaining.

The Philippines got another stop on the next position and Douthit all but put the game away with an easy dunk in transition.

Wright led Jordan with 24 points.

SMART-Gilas Pilipinas takes on Chinese-Taipei B in their next assignment. They then face South Korea, Japan, Lebanon, Iran, and Chinese Taipei A before closing their campaign against the US team.

*Take note that some of Jordan's well-known mainstays weren't here. Sam Dahgles, Zaid Abbas, and Islam Abbas

AJ Zaghab of Jordan (L) was given a tough time by
Rico Villanueva and the rest of the Pinoy frontline.
(image from PhilStar.com)

Other Results of Day 1:
IR Iran over Lebanon, 89-79
- No Hamed Haddadi for Iran and no Fadi El-Khatib for Lebanon.

South Korea (one of their pro teams -- the Anyang KGC Club) over Taiwan Team B, 109-83
- Only two Korean NT mainstays are with the Korean team here -- Kim Tae-Sul and Oh Sek-Eun. On the other hand, the Taiwan Team B squad is made up mainly of University stars. They visited the Philippines recently and played a couple of tune-up games, beating Ateneo's Team B and losing to the NLEX Road Warriors.

Taiwan Team A over Japan, 82-57
- This was a particularly surprising result, since Japan sent some of its biggest stars. Still, big time scorer Takuya Kawamura was not present, along with naturalized player JR Sakuragi. Taiwan was complete here, and they showed the deadly potential they have.

August 21, 2012 Update: Below are screen caps of the box scores courtesy of Chris Wang. Chris, you're awesome. For some reason, it seems the Jones Cup site is only accessible to people in Taiwan, so, yeah, that sucks.

Iran over Lebanon, 89-74

Anyang KGC over Taiwan B, 109-83

SMART-Gilas over Jordan, 88-78

Taiwan A over Japan, 82-57