MANILA – Mighty Sports-Go for Gold Philippines banked on its reinforcements in the fourth period for an 89-82 victory over South Korea in the 2019 William Jones Cup at the Changhua County Gymnasium in Taiwan.
After seeing its double-digit first half edge turned into a 62-70 deficit in the fourth period on Tuesday night, the Philippines leaned on five straight points by Zach Graham and a triple by MacKenzie Moore for a 72-all score.
It was all Mighty Sports-Philippines since then. Renaldo Balkman and Hamady N’Diaye took turns in scoring inside to establish an 83-74 advantage with over two minutes left.
The South Koreans made its last push with consecutive triples and missed free throws by Balkman to come to within 82-87 but two free throws by Moore extended the Philippines’ lead anew to seven.
Balkman had 19 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal, and a block, while Moore and Graham added 17 and 16 markers, respectively.
Eugene Phelps chipped in 14 points for the Philippine team.
Ricardo Ratliffe had double-double 24 points and 20 rebounds, while Choi Junyong added 14 points, six rebounds, and three assists for the 2019 FIBA World Cup-bound South Korea.
Barring any upset losses, the Philippines could be on its way to bagging its second Jones Cup crown in the last four editions with Indonesia (July 19, 1 p.m.), Chinese-Taipei A (July 20, 7 p.m.) and Chinese-Taipei B (July 21, 5 p.m.) as its remaining games./PN
