2014 William Jones Cup Roundup: Day One

Unbeknownst to many local hoop nuts, the 2014 William Jones Cup is currently ongoing in Taiwan. This is quite understandable, of course, given how no Philippine team is competing, but I have a vested interest here because, well, I love Asian basketball. Right now, many of the teams currently playing in Taiwan feature some of the most promising young Asian hoopsters, and that’s more than enough to get my attention.

The 2014 William Jones Cup in Taiwan just started!

The odds-on favorites here are the Americans and the home town Taiwan Team A (a.k.a. the Blue team) squad. Iran, the defending champs, sent its B-Team here, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be pushovers. Korea sent its KBL champion squad, Ulsan Mobis Phoebus, though it is missing some key pieces. Japan sent its own B-Team, too, while Egypt sent its World-Cup-bound squad minus the best players. Jordan looks to be pretty intact, but having no Rasheim Wright is a significant factor.

Now let’s look at the results from day one!

Day 1 Scores and Recaps

USA over IRAN, 70-64
Box Scores here.
The Americans opened their campaign with a big win over the champs, leaning on James Justice, who led the way with 14 points. Daryl Dorsey and Cory Bradford chipped in 13 points apiece in supporting roles. Iran’s Hamed Hosseinzadeh managed to put up 19 points, but only one other Iranian player managed double figures — Mohammad Torabi with 13.

James Justice throws down the hammer against Iran.

EGYPT over KOREA, 80-78
Box Scores here.
In the tightest game of the day, Egypt outlasted South Korea to get its tournament off to a great start. Four Egyptian players scored in double-figures, led by Haytham Khalifa’s 15 points. Amir Abdel-Halim, Ibrahim El Gammal, and Yousef Abu Shousha each tallied at least 10 markers to backstop Khalifa. Former Missouri forward Ricardo Ratliffe dropped 30 points to pace Korea, while Moon Tae-Young (a.k.a. Greg Stevenson) added another 21 markers.

Ricardo Ratliffe goes for the baby hook.

JORDAN over TAIWAN-B, 71-62
Box Scores here.
Taiwan’s B-Team (a.k.a. the White squad), composed of players not older than 27, succumbed to the veteran Jordan five. Chou Yi-Hsian was the only Taiwanese player to register double-figures with 10 points. As a team, Taiwan-B shot just 29% from the field. Jordan, on the other hand, had four players score in double-digits, led by Ahmad Al-Dwairi, who recorded 17 points and 17 rebounds. Mousa Al-Awadi and Ahmad Al-Hamarsheh backstopped him with 15 and 14 markers respectively.

Chen Ying-Chun attacks the Jordanian D.

TAIWAN-A over JAPAN, 88-77
Box Scores here.
Taiwan Blue reeled in a convincing at the expense of Japan to be one of the tourney’s early leaders. CBA veteran Yang Chin-Min waxed hot in this one, hitting 5 treys on his way to 27 points and 4 rebounds. Naturalized player Quincy Davis chipped in 10 points, 8 boards, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, while SBL MVP Liu Cheng added 14 markers. Yuki Togashi, who suited up for the Dallas Mavericks in the 2014 NBA D-League, put up 14 points to lead Team Hayabusa, but he got little support outside of Yuya Nagayoshi’s 10 markers.

Liu Cheng goes up strong against Japan.

Yang Chin-Min was red-hot for Taiwan Blue.

All images are from the Jones Cup.


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