Former Gilas Pilipinas coach Yeng Guiao believes the solid big men of European teams playing in the FIBA World Cup are the biggest factors in dislodging the United States. (Photo from Jones Cup)
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TAIPEI, Taiwan — Rain or Shine struggled offensively against the bigger and quicker foes, absorbing a 54-point defeat, 115-61 at the hands of US National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I team University of California Irvine in
its final William Jones Cup game Sunday at the Taipei Heping Gymnasium here.
The writing was already on the wall for the Elasto Painters when they had an ice-cold offense to start the contest, shooting on a measly 1-of-20 clip from the field while also missing all of 10 tries from three-point territory.
That spelled doom for the Filipinos as the Americans, who already clinched the Jones Cup title on Saturday after beating the erstwhile undefeated Chinese Taipei A, made sure to take advantage of the Painters' shooting woes, building a 26-6
advantage at the end of the first 10 minutes of the game.
The offense slowly picked up in the ensuing quarters but was already too late with UC's lead already far from RoS' reach.
Making matters worse for the Elasto Painters was the ejection of import Nick Evans with still 4:56 left in the first quarter due to an unsportsmanlike foul after shoving an American player, and a technical foul for verbal altercation
with the UC head coach.
The offense slowly picked up in the ensuing quarters but was already too late with UC's lead already far from RoS' reach.
Derin Saran led the way with 23 points while forwards Emilis Butkus added 18 and Devin Tellis with 16 as UC completed an eight-game sweep of the tournament.
Andrei Caracut was the lone double-digit scorer for the Filipinos with 14 as Rain or Shine finished the tournament with a 2-6 record.
