SGA seals perfect Jones Cup campaign

Strong Group Athletics (SGA) completed yet another unbeaten campaign following an 87-62 win over the United Arab Emirates in the 44th William Jones Cup at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City on Sunday.

A day after formally securing its second straight championship, SGA refused to slow down as it crushed the Emiratis to complete a sweep and emerge as the first Filipino squad to win back-to-back titles in this prestigious invitational tournament.

Aside from SGA, other Filipino clubs who won the Jones Cup crown were Northern Cement in 1982, San Miguel in 1985, the Centennial Team in 1998, Gilas Pilipinas in 2012, Mighty Sports in 2016 and 2019.

Against the Emiratis, who played without prized guard Demarco Dickerson, SGA hardly broke a sweat, ripping the game wide open after Jason Brickman scored on a layup in the 3:36 mark of the third quarter to ignite a 12-2 rally for a comfortable 56-43 deficit and dictate the tempo the rest of the way..

Import Tajuan Agee led the scoring with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists while Kiefer Ravena chipped in 13 points laced with three three-pointers and nine assists for Frank Lao-owned club, which had the luxury of resting former Oklahoma City Thunder standout Andre Roberson.

DJ Fenner and Ian Miller also delivered solid poerformances with 12 points apiece while Dave Ildefonso added 10 markers.

SGA coach Charles Tiu said this victory was even sweeter as they won despite keeping core of their previous roster like Fenner, Brickman, Ravena, Ildefonso, Geo Chiu, Rhenz Abando, Ange Kouame and Allen Liwag intact.

“It’s special, especially because I don’t know if we will be able to have this group again. DJ and Brickman are probably joining the draft, Javi (Gomez de Liaño) and Rhenz will probably have different teams already, and we don’t know where our other guys will be next year,” said Tiu, who won four Jones Cup titles both as an assistant coach and a head coach.

“But we had a great group of guys — guys committed to winning and sacrificing for the team. It’s rare to have this kind of chemistry and character guys on the team.”

SGA’s title run has been sweet as it had to beat Chinese Taipei-A, 67-56, Japan Developmental, 79-67, and Qatar 81-54 without Ravena, who was in Athens at the time due to a prior commitment.

Once the Filipino squad was complete, SGA did not slow down and pulled off thrilling victories over NBL1 Rising Stars, 91-75, Chinese Taipei-B, 107-75, Malaysia, 106-98, and Bahrain, 92-68 to secure the title.

Tiu said they might host an invitational tournament, but will be celebrating their latest triumph for now.

“We haven’t figured out what’s next, but me, Boss Frank and Boss Jacob Lao are talking about potentially having an invitational in Manila,” said Tiu, also the coach of the Lao-backed College of Saint Benilde.

“I’ve talked to some teams and they’re interested, so let’s see. But for now, we are just going to enjoy the moment here.”