Mighty Sports faces Taiwan five in J Cup

MANILA, Philippines – Mighty Sports Apparels takes on Chinese Taipei A tomorrow night to kick off its campaign in the 2016 William Jones Cup international basketball tournament at the Xinchuang Gymnasium in Taipei.

The Philippine quintet, with seven reinforcements including PBA vete-rans Al Thornton, Vernon Macklin, Zach Graham, Michael Singletary, and Hamadi N’Diaye, will also be up against teams from the United States, South Korea, Japan, India, Iran, Egypt and Chinese Taipei B.

They figure in a one round-robin competition after which the team with the best win-loss record automatically wins the championship.

Iran is the reigning champion in the annual event where the Philippines is a four-time titlist, third best in the all-time medal ranking behind the USA (with 15 gold) and Iran (five).

With Gilas Pilipinas as the Philippine entry last year, the Filipinos finished second to the Iranians.

Mighty Sports has high hopes for a podium finish with a team that also features two other imports in Dewarick Spencer and Troy Gillenwater, reinforcing locals Jeric Teng, TY Tang, Sunday Salvacion, Larry Rodriguez, Edrick Ferrer and Jason Brickman under coach Bo Perasol.

The nine-team, eight-nation tournament fires off today, with Mighty Sports taking a bye.

Mighty Sports then plays eight straight games against Chinese Taipei A, South Korea, the USA, Japan, India, Iran, Egypt and Chinese Taipei B.