Mighty Sports PH impales UBC Thunderbirds in massive blowout

By Mark Mañez

MANILA - Mighty Sports Philippines uncorked a telling 39-point avalanche to chalk up its fourth successive victory over a game University of British Columbia Thunderbirds squad, 116-87, in the 41st William Jones Cup, Monday afternoon at the Changhua County Stadium.

Jeremiah Gray paced coach Charles Tiu's squad with 25 markers and led three others scoring in double figures en route to the rout. He also added 6 caroms and 4 dimes in his name as well.

Team captain Renaldo Balkman, meanwhile padded his own display of dominance, knocking all his nine attempts, finishing the game with 22 points on top of his 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 swipes and erased four shots.

Both teams started red hot from tipoff with the Thunderbirds of coach Kevin Hanson even taking up a solitary point ahead of Mighty Sports-PH after 10 minutes, 27-26.

Taylor Browne and Patrick Simon jointly carried the Thunderbirds with 25 markers apiece on a losing cause with the former sniping down 7 long range bombs in the process.

Mighty Sports-PH suddenly flicked on their afterburners and started rampaging as second quarter progressed, limiting the Canadians to only nine points with Gray capping it with an off-the-window trifecta to end it, 65-36

Third quarter still went into coach Charles Tiu's wards as they pounced further, bring the lead at one point to 40, 98-58, before slowing down and settling for the final result.

Both teams will resume action on Tuesday with UBC-Canada facing the Iranians in the curtain raiser and Mighty Sports facing a daunting assignment against tournament co-leaders South Korea in the 5:00 p.m. tussle.

The Koreans earlier thrashed Indonesia, 117-62 prior to the Mighty Sports-UBC match.

Box Scores:

Mighty Sports Philippines 116 - Gray 25, Balkman 22, Phelps 20, N'Diaye 15, Williams 9, Yeo 7, Banal 7, Adams 4, Graham 3, Black 2, Wongchuking 2, Brickman 0, Moore 0, Richards 0.

UBC 87 - Browne 25, Simon 25, Shephard 14, Cruz-Dumont 8, Audu 5, Rosebush 5, Bourcier 2, Dai 0, Familia 0, Clair 0, Morrison 0.

Quarterscores: 26-27, 65-36, 98-58, 116-87

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