Canada Suffer Further Setback at the William Jones Cup
The Canadian team were still looking for their first win of the 2019 William Jones Cup, but faced a tall order in getting it against the Mighty Sports-Philippines on the fourth day of the competition.
The Filipino team had so far been dominant in the competition, having comfortably won their first three games against Iran, Jordan and Japan. However, after the first quarter of their game against Canada, it was the Canadians who were leading by a single point.
Playing a big part in giving Canada the early lead was Patrick Simon, who had 14 points in the first quarter. When the game resumed, though, the Philippines went on the warpath, outscoring Canada by thirty points in the second quarter. With Renaldo Balkman leading the scoring and defence for the Filipino team, they led the Canadian team 65-36 at half time.
With Jeremiah Cyzel Grey stepping up his offence and Eugene Hasson Phelps doing the same to protect the ball for the Philippines, they built on their lead in the third quarter. Though they trailed by thirty points going into the final quarter, Simon's continued shooting accuracy kept Canada alive. Meanwhile, Taylor Browne caught fire from beyond the arc, scoring seven of Canada's total 16 three-pointers in the game.
However, Simon and Browne's offence - they both finished with 25 points in the game - would not be anywhere near enough for Canada to get the win. With Cyzel, Balkman and Eugene Hasson Phelps all reaching the twenty-point mark - with Phelps also grabbing eleven rebounds - they ran out to their fourth straight win by a final scoreline of 116-87.
Also on day four, Indonesia also suffered a heavy defeat to Korea, 117-55, while Japan regained their winning record after prevailing in a back-and-forth game with Jordan, the final score 72-63 in Japan's favour.
The headline game saw both Chinese Taipei teams - Blue and White - face off, and though the fell behind early on, the Blue team were able to turn it around and take control of proceedings. They beat their compatriots, Chinese Taipei White, by ten points, with Chen Ying-Chun leading the team's scoring with 20 points, while Hu Lung-Mao scored 16 and grabbed 12 total rebounds.
On day five either Canada or Iran will pick up their first win on the tournament, as both are yet to register in the win column. This might be Canada's best chance yet to salvage pride after a winless first half of play. Check back here for their result against Iran, while full details of the tournament and all games can be found on the official website.
Picture: Paolo Del Rosario
