The Mighty Sports Philippines logged their first victory for the 41st William Jones Cup as they beat team Iran, 98-72.
Former Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters import Eugene Phelps powered team Philippines with his 25 points along with six boards while his fellow ex-PBA import Renaldo Balkman chipped in with 10 markers.
Jeremiah Gray paced Mighty Sports in the opening quarter with his outside shooting. Gray made 16 points plus his five rebounds.
As coach Charles Tiu had expected, team Iran didn’t send their elite players in the Taiwan based basketball tournament, instead, they brought their future players similar to Gilas cadet program of SBP.
Vahid Dalirzahan paced the Iranian squad with his 14 points and four rebounds.
Mighty Sports controlled the match from the get-go but in the second quarter team Iran had their runs that threatened to take over the driver seat.
Coach Tiu immediately called a time out and urged his troops to respect the game and show energy on both ends of the floor.
His players responded and piled more points to make sure they had the needed distance to win the match.
The next game of Mighty Sports will be tomorrow at 1:00 PM against team Jordan.
Box Score
Philippines (98) – Adams 5, Gray 16, Phelps 25, Brickman 2, Black 6, Williams 10, Balkman 10, Naaye 9, Moore 15
Iran (72) – Dro 4, Vahedi 8, Zad 1, Azari 12, Dalirzahan 14, Torabi 7, Miri 1, Installation 7, Vand 12, Dalirdahan 6