2013 Jones Cup Roundup: Day One

Taiwan sprung a rude welcome for its visitors on Day 1 of the 2013 William Jones Cup, with Taiwan B upsetting the Lebanese and Taiwan A overpowering the Japanese. The first day of hostilities also saw the Koreans blow out the Egyptians and the Iranians throttle past the Jordanians.

Lin Chih-Chieh and the Taiwanese had a sterling debut.

In the first game of the day, the upstart Taiwan B squad, led by Taiwan Beer forward Liu Cheng, surprised the hastily-formed Lebanese national team, 70-66. Liu dropped 20 points along with 6 rebounds and 4 steals for the home team, which was composed mainly of players between 20-25 years old. He was backstopped by a combined 28 markers from sniper Chang Chia-Jung and young big man Zhou Boxun. The wingman duo of Fadi El Khatib and Jean Abdel Nour led Lebanon with 20 and 14 points respectively, while US NCAA Division 2 leading scorer Ali Haidar debuted for the Cedars with 9 points and 6 rebounds. Lebanon was without naturalized big man Loren Woods.

Liu Cheng surprised the Lebanese with his aggressive play.

The second game featured a young and athletic Korean side use a stirring second quarter run to dominate the Egyptians, 80-63. Speedster Kim Sun-Hyung of the SK Knights paced Korea with 17 points on 8-of-11 FG shooting. Known for being an effective slasher and transition finisher, Sun-Hyung ran rings around the Egyptian defenders all throughout the contest. Young shooter Kim Min-Goo drained 3 triples on his way to 11 points for the East Asian squad, while big men veterans Lee Seung-Jun and Kim Joo-Sung paired up for 22 points and 9 rebounds. 6’9 Assem Marei of Minnesota St. led Egypt with 20 points, 18 rebounds, and 3 steals.

Kim Jong-Kyu goes up strong against Egypt.

In the third game, Iran defeated WABA rivals Jordan, 64-57, thanks to 15 points and 9 boards from NBA center Hamed Haddadi. Despite not having many of its marquee players, Jordan kept the game close thanks to the superb effort of newly naturalized player Jimmy Baxter, who scored 23 points on 9-of-17 FG shooting. Baxter was the only bright spot for Jordan, who sorely missed the services of ace players Sam Daghlas and Zaid Abbas, both of whom are still recovering from injuries. Ahmad Al Hamarsheh was the next biggest contributor with 8 points on top of 7 rebounds. On the other end, veteran playmaker Mahdi Kamrani ran the Iranian offense well, ending up with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals, while Samad Nikkhah Bahrami scored 9 points in 20 minutes.

Hamed Afagh challenges Mohammad Hadrab in mid-air.

The day ended with the hometown Taiwan A team using a fast 10-0 start to set the tone and playing well enough to keep the Japanese away in the late stages to post a 70-62 win. Quincy Davis, Taiwan’s first ever naturalized hoopster, showcased his skills in a great debut for the national team, logging 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 rejections in a dominant display. Veteran swingman Lin Chih-Chieh also did well for the Taiwanese, scoring 13 points, though he did turn the ball over 5 times. Tseng Wen-Ting, who normally starts at center, played his natural power forward position alongside Davis and did pretty well with 8 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocked shots, and 2 steals. Kosuke Takeuchi struggled for the Japanese, shooting 6-of-15 from the floor to finish with 14 points and 9 boards, while super sniper KJ Matsui drained 5 treys in the second half to finish with 15 markers.

Taiwanese ace Jet Chang will not play in the Jones Cup.

KJ Matsui connected on five attempts from downtown.

Quincy Davis was nearly unstoppable in the paint for Taiwan.

2013 William Jones Cup Standings

Team	Wins	Losses
Taiwan A	1	0
Taiwan B	1	0
Korea	1	0
Iran	1	0
USA	0	0
Japan	0	1
Lebanon	0	1
Egypt	0	1
Jordan	0	1

Box Scores:

TAIWAN B over LEBANON, 70-66

TPE B 70 - Liu C 20, Chang 18, Zhou 10, Lo 6, Liu Y 4, Chen K 3, Lai 3, Chen Y 2, Chen T 2, Tsai 2, Lin 0, Huang 0
LIB 66 - El Khatib F 20, Abdel Nour 14, Haidar 9, Stephan 6, Kanaan 6, Ammoury 5, Saoud 3, Akl 3, Mahmoud 0, El Khatib H 0
QS: 21-18, 35-30, 54-54, 70-66

KOREA over EGYPT, 80-63

KOR 80 - Kim SH 17, Lee 11, Kim MG 11, Kim JS 11, Kim TS 9, Kim JK 7, Cho 6, Moon 4, Park 2, Choi 2, Yang 0, Yoon 0
EGY 63 - Marei 20, El Gammal 12, El Lethi 10, Khalifa 8, Abdalla S 5,  El Sabagh A 4, Abou Khadra 2, Khorshid 1, Abdalla R 1, Tawfik 0, El Sabagh M 0, Abou Shousha 0
QS: 25-23, 43-32, 61-45, 80-63

IRAN over JORDAN, 64-57
IRI 64 - Haddadi 15, Kamrani 15, Bahrami 9, Jamshidi 6, Afagh 5, Sahakian 5, Davari 2, Davoudi 2, Sohrabnejad 2, Veisi 2, Arghavan 1, Kardoust 0
JOR 57 - Baxter 23, Al Hamarsheh 8, Al Sous 7, Zaghab 7, Abu Ruqayah 4, Hadrab 4, Shaher 2, Emran 2, Abu Quora 0, Al Najjar 0, Abdeen 0, AL Faraj 0
QS: 17-11, 35-25, 50-49, 64-57

TAIWAN A over JAPAN, 70-62
TPE A 70 - Davis 18, Lin 13, Tseng 8, Tsai 8, Lu 6, Ke 5, Tien 3, Lee 3, Creighton 2, Yang 2, Chen 2, Chou 0
JPN 62 - Matsui 15, Takeuchi 14, Hinkley 9, Tsuji 5, Tanaka 5, Kanamaru 4, Kikuchi 4, Hiejima 3, Ota 2, Sakurai 1, Kurihara 0
QS: 22-12, 31-25, 51-43, 70-62

Unless otherwise specified, all images are from 2013wjc.basketball-tpe.org.