The Philippines downed Taiwan-B, 81-71 to complete its dominant show in the Jones Cup in a performance that duplicated its grand sweep of the championship three years ago at the Xinzhuang Gym in New Taipei City, Taiwan.
The country’s representative to the annual club tournament played without former PBA import Renaldo Balkman, who missed the game due to a broken nose suffered in an earlier title-clinching 97-74 win over Taiwan A.
Despite this, the Philippines still got the job done with not much hassle.
The Taiwanese refused to be intimidated, engaging Mighty Sports-Go for Gold boys in several shootouts to the delight of the crowd.
They even outscored the Philippines, 23-19 in the third period.
“But when McKenzie Moore and Eugene Phelps decided that enough was enough, they came through with a pair of slam dunks before crafty Fil-Am guard Jason Brickman sealed the team’s eighth win with a beautiful drive, 77-67,” the Manila Times report said.
“We missed the energy and power of Renaldo but it was a good win for the team, everybody contributed,” the Times quoted head coach Charles Tiu as saying.
Counting its 8-0 sweep three years ago, Mighty Sports extended its amazing winning streak to 16 games.
