Thursday, July 10, 2008

Day 1: Kazakhstan, Jordan score opening wins

Taiwan 72-68 Korea University Selects (39-29)

Yang Ching-min scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half as Taiwan NT edged Korea University Selects 72-68 for its first win in the 30th Jones Cup tournament.

Korea, which trailed by ten at the half, closed the gap and even took the lead briefly in the final quarter. As Taiwan clung to a mere three-point lead with 1:20 to go, Yang's reverse backhand layup boost the lead to five.

After Korea's three-pointer once again made it a three-point game with 17.8 seconds left, Yang made one of two free-throws with 5.3 seconds remaining and iced the game.

Lee Fung-yung had 9 points and puled down 13 boards for Taiwan, which entered the tourney without almost all of its core players: Chen Hsin-an, Tseng Wen-ting, Lin Chih-chieh, Wu Tai-hao and Tien Lei.

A 10-point halftime deficit didn't faze the Koreans, who went on a scoring tear and tied the game at 45-45 on Kim Hyeon-min's three with 4:40 to go in the third quarter.

Taiwan: Yang Chin-min 22p+6rb, Ouyang Ching-heng 11p, Hsu Chih-chan 11p+6rb, Lee Fung-yung 9p+13rb
Korea: Park Rae-hun 16p, Heo Il-young 26p+9rb

Kazakhstan 74-71 Australia U-19 (36-30)

Australia's young squad surprised an experienced Kazak team in the opening game of the 30th William Jones Cup but Kazakhstan still escaped with a 74-71 win. Both teams were sluggish, which was not uncommon in the opening day of any tournament, with two double-digit scorers apiece.

Kazak 6-9 backup Seva Fadeikin led all scorers with 18 points while Anton Ponomarev finished with 11 for Kazakhstan. Australia U-19 NT was led by Mitchell Young's 11 points. Matthew Dellavedova scored 10 points. Young Aussies were hurt by their rebounding, trailing 26-40 in that department.

Qatar 82-80 Egypt

Qatar: E.A. Saeed 18p+8rb, Daoud Musa 17p, Mansour El Hadary 16p+7rb+4a, A.T. Ali 10p+10rb
Egypt: Rami Gunady 28p+6rb, W. Badr 14p, T. El-Gannam 14p+8rb+3a+3s

Jordan 67-63 AIA

Veteran Zaid Alkhas made two crucial threes in overtime as Jordan defeated Athletes in Action 67-63 after the extra session and opened its quest for the second consecutive Jones Cup crown with an inspiring win.

Jordan made two free-throws in the last five seconds in regulation to send the game into overtime, during which it made three of its seven threes in the game.

Jordan: J.A. Shmala 20p+6rb, Zaid Alkhas 19p+7rb, T. Almaaytah 7p+10rb
AIA: Benjamin Woodside 14p, Wellington Smith 11p+9rb, Brett Winkelman 10p+7rb, Jamel McLean 11p+10rb, Da'Sean Butler 6p+7rb

Standings: Taiwan 1-0, Jordan 1-0, Qatar 1-0, Kazakhstan 1-0, Korea 0-1, Egypt 0-1, Australia 0-1, AIA 0-1