MANILA – Mighty Sport-Go For Gold Philippines relied on the exploits of Renaldo Balkman as it scored a 94-59 win over Japan in the 2019 William Jones Cup on Sunday night at the Changhua County Gym in Changhua, Taiwan.
Balkman, who turned 35 on Sunday, had another solid outing with double-double 27 points and 12 rebounds as the Philippines improved to 3-0 win-loss slate in the standings.
Filipino-American forward Mikey Williams enhanced his resume by contributing 17 points while Eugene Phelps had 19 markers as the Philippines aims for its second title in four matches.
“It’s a good birthday show for Renaldo and he inspired the rest to step up,” said Mighty Sports head coach Charles Tiu. “We did not start well but we managed to straighten up things in the second half.”
Unlike in their first two matches, the Mighty Sports fell behind early in the game at 12-5 before mounting a huge fight back in the second behind Balkman and Phelps for a 38-26 halftime lead.
A dunk by Balkman and a three-point shot by Roosevelt Adams to open the third quarter quickly changed the complexion of the game as Mighty padded its lead to 23 points.
After facing the win-less British Columbia-Canada on Monday evening, the Mighty Sports-Philippines is expected to be challenged against South Korea national team tonight./PN
