Iran came up the big winner it its titanic tussle
with erstwhile undefeated Korea, while Egypt, Jordan, and the US crept up the
standings with separate wins.
 |
| Hamed Haddadi was unstoppable for Iran. |
In the first game of the day, the Egyptians had a
better windup to the game and eventually outlasted Lebanon, 64-62. Ibrahim El
Gammal led Egypt with 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals, while Ali Kanaan
spearheaded Lebanon with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Big man Haytham Khalifa also
did well with a dozen points, 6 rebounds, and 1 block, while Sherif Abdalla
added 12 points off the bench for the winners, who moved up to 3-2. Lebanon,
meanwhile, sank to 2-3. They were leading for the early part of the second
half, but they just couldn’t hold on till the end. Nadim Souaid, Ali Mahmoud,
Fadi El Khatib, and Ali Haidar all scored in double-figures for LIB coach
Ghassan Sarkis.
 |
| Assem Marei tries a baby hook. |
 |
| Fadi El Khatib goes up strong. |
The second game of the day featured the Jordanians
finally breaking through and winning, 86-77, over Taiwan B. The WABA side had
to withstand the outstanding performance of Taiwan’s Liu Cheng, who netted 26
points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 triples. Liu, who is an emerging star in
the Taiwanese SBL, is one of the young guys being eyed to be a significant part
of future iterations of the Taiwanese NT. He is being eyed to take the place of
Tien Lei, who is already in his early 30s. Another emerging young Taiwanese
player is Ray Chen, who scored 19 points and had 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3
steals, and 3 treys here. Over on the Jordanian side, Ahmad Al Hamarsheh did
well with 13 points and 9 rebounds, while Mohammad Hadrab added 11 markers, 4
rebounds, and 3 assists. Jimmy Baxter played under 15 minutes and produced just
3 points as JOR rose to 1-3 while TPE B dropped to 1-4.
 |
| Mahmoud Abdeen of Jordan is met by Ray Chen of Taiwan B. (image from Da Village) |
In the third game, Team USA defeated Japan, 64-56,
for its second win in a row. Jermaine Dailey led the Americans with a 14-point,
7-rebound effort, while compatriot Eric Hicks registered a 10-point, 10-rebound
double-double. The US survived despite hitting just one of its 14 3-point attempts
and coughing up 19 turnovers mainly because they were +20 on the boards and
shot 53% from the 2-point area. Kosuke Takeuchi continued to impress for coach
Kimikazu Suzuki’s squad, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while
wingman Makoto Hiejima added 10 markers off the pine. The Americans are now at
2-2, while the Japanese remain winless in 4 tries.
 |
| Ryota Sakurai tries to go past Curtis Marshall. |
The day ended with Iran beating Korea, 71-68, in a
battle of erstwhile unbeaten teams. Former NBA journeyman center Hamed Haddadi
had a monster outing with 34 points and 15 rebounds, shooting 57% from the
floor. Coach Memi Becirovic went to his prized big man early and often,
asserting the Iranians’ interior superiority. Lee Seung-Jun, Kim Jong-Kyu, and Kim
Joo-Sung all alternated in trying to stop the 7-3 behemoth but to no avail. Samad
Nikkhah Bahrami added a pedestrian 10 points for Iran, though he did play just
11 minutes. Iran was actually in control for most of the game till Korea made a
big rally in the payoff period and nearly upstaged their WABA foes. Veteran
slotman Kim Joo-Sung turned back time to lead KOR with 14 points, while other
veterans Seung-Jun and Cho Sung-Min netted 11 and 10 markers respectively. Iran
is now the only undefeated team at 4-0, while Korea dropped its first game out
of five.
 |
| Kim Joo-Sung tried to rally Korea in the fourth. (image from Jumpball.co.kr) |
2013 William Jones Cup Standings
Team
|
Wins
|
Losses
|
Iran
|
4
|
0
|
Korea
|
4
|
1
|
Taiwan A
|
3
|
1
|
Egypt
|
3
|
2
|
USA
|
2
|
2
|
Lebanon
|
2
|
3
|
Jordan
|
1
|
3
|
Taiwan B
|
1
|
4
|
Japan
|
0
|
4
|
BOX
SCORES:
EGYPT over LEBANON 64-62
EGY 64 - El Gammal 14, Khalifa 12, Abdalla S 12, Marei 8,
Abdalla R 5, Khorshid 4, Tawfik 4, El Sabagh M 3, Abou Khadra 2, Abou Shousha 0
LIB 62 - Kanaan 13, Haidar 12, Souaid 11, Mahmoud 11, El
Khatib F 10, Saoud 3, El Khatib H 2, Akl 0, Ibrahim 0
QS: 13-19,
30-28, 45-48, 64-62
JORDAN over TAIWAN B, 86-77
JOR 86 - Al Hamarsheh13, Hadrab 11, Al Faraj 10, Abdeen 9, Abu
Ruqayah 9, Al Najjar 8, Al Sous 8, Al Dwairi 6, Abu Quora 5, Zaghab AJ 4,
Baxter 3, Zaghab MJ 0
TPE B 77 - Liu C 26, Chen YC 19, Chang 9, Tsai 8, Lo 7, Zhou 4,
Chen TY 2, Chen KC 2, Liu YK 0, Chiang 0, Hu 0, Huang 0
QS: 20-16,
41-33, 58-46, 86-77
USA over JAPAN, 64-56
USA 64 - Dailey 14, Hicks 10, Kearse 9, Owens 9, Barnes 8,
Marshall 4, Melvin 3, Horton 2, Vanlandingham 2, Awere 2, Rougeau 1, Bray 0
JPN 56 - Takeuchi 17, Hiejima 10, Kurihara 7, Kanamaru 6,
Watanabe 5, Hinkley 4, Matsui 4, Ota 2, Sakurai 1, Uda 0, Kikuchi 0
QS: 16-11,
35-25, 46-39, 64-56
IRAN over KOREA, 71-68
IRI 71 - Haddadi 34, Bahrami 10, Sohrabnejad 7, Kamrani 6,
Jamshidi 6, Davoudi 3, Sahakian 2, Davari 2, Arghavan 1, Afagh 0, Davarpanah 0
KOR 68 - Kim JS 14, Lee 11, Cho 10, Yoon 7, Kim MG 6, Kim JK
6, Kim TS 5, Kim SH 4, Moon 3, Yang 2, Choi 0, Park 0
QS: 26-16,
44-33, 60-49, 71-68
Unless otherwise specified, all images are from
2013wjc.basketball-tpe.org.
1 Comment
too scary XD
Balas