Games Today
(Xinzhuang gym)
1 p.m. – India vs Taiwan-B
3 p.m. – Mighty Sports vs Iran
5 p.m. – Japan vs Korea
7 p.m. – Taiwan-A vs Egypt
NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan – Philippine representative Mighty Sports Apparels got a good warm-up for its crucial showdown with Iran as it clobbered India, 101-81, to fortify its title bid in the William Jones Cup yesterday at the Xinzhuang gym here.
What was expected to be an easy outing turned out to be a tough one for the Mighty Sports dribblers as it took them two quarters before they solved India’s zone defense.
But when they finally did, the Indians – led early by the 7-foot-1 Amritpal Singh and 6-foot-10 Amjyot Singh – found no answers to the Mighty Sports dribblers’ brilliant transition plays to post their fifth straight win in the 9-team tournament.
The win augured well for the team’s encounter with the defending champions at 3 p.m. today.
Iran, which fell to a 3-1 record following a shocking 67-50 loss to the 3-2 Koreans the other day, was playing against Taiwan at presstime. The Iranians will still face Japan on Saturday and India on Sunday.
With a clean slate, the Mighty Sports dribblers, backed by Scratch It and Symarom, can clinch the title if they beat the Iranians today and the Egyptians on Saturday. Their final assignment will be against Taiwan-B which is no longer in the running after dropping to 2-2.
With Korean league veteran Dewarick Spencer and former PBA import Al Thornton leading the way, Mighty Sports unleashed a murderous 20-4 run to break the game wide open.
That vicious attack was highlighted by one of Spencer’s five triples and a jaw-dropping dunk by Zach Graham that saw them post a sizable 68-52 lead.
For good measure, they closed out the quarter with an 11-4 run for a commanding 79-59 advantage.
That was enough to break the Indians’ spirit, giving coach Bo Perasol the luxury of fielding his homegrown players.
But the game simply belonged to Spencer and Thornton.
The 6-foot-4 Spencer produced the tournament’s first triple-double with 21 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
And Thornton?
In his best game so far, the former NLEX import produced a tournament-high 30 points on a remarkable 13-of-16 shooting from the field. He ripped the previous high of 27 that Spencer scored in the team’s 89-81 win over Taiwan-A last Sunday.
Scores:
MIGHTY SPORTS 101 – Thornton 30, Spencer 21, Macklin 14, Singletary 10, N’Diaye 8, Graham 5, Teng 4, Rodriguez 4, Ferrer 3, Brickman 2, Tang 0.
INDIA 81 – Amritpal 18, Amjyot 15, Bhullar 15, Arumugam 8, Talwinderjit 8, Philip 8, Sivakumar 4, Pari 3, Pethani 2, Annadurai 0, Bhardwaj 0.
Quarters: 23-27, 48-48, 79-59, 101-81. (REY C. LACHICA)