Also-ran Strong Group flexes might in statement Jones Cup win vs Chinese Taipei foes

MANILA, Philippines — Going out with a bang. 

Despite seeing its three-peat dreams get dashed earlier in the day, Strong Group Athletics (SGA) powered in a statement win over the semifinal-bound Chinese Taipei - Blue, 117-74, Thursday evening at the Xingzhuang Gymnasium in Taiwan. 

SGA finished the group stage with a 5-1 win-loss record, good for the second-seeded finish, but they failed to make it to the semifinals. 

According to the tournament’s rules, Taiwan - Blue, which finished the group stage with a 1-5 slate, automatically heads to the semifinal round. Thus, only the top seed of Group A, which turned out to be the Wonju DB Promy, will punch another ticket to the next round.

In the non-bearing game, the Philippine-based squad made sure to leave it all on the court against the home team.

Isaiah Pineiro had a double-double in the win, finishing with 22 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Remy Martin added 19 markers while Matthew Wright chipped in 18. 

SGA opened the match with guns blazing, jumping to a 25-17 lead in the first quarter. 

They completely eviscerated their opponents in the middle quarters, outscoring them 67-32.

Titing Manalili added 13 points for SGA to go with eight assists and six rebounds, while Boban Marjanovic had 12 markers and six boards.

Ming-Jun Xie finished with 18 points for Taipei - Blue. Chiang-Shuang Chen contributed 14 markers while Jonah Morrison had 12.

SGA will take on Jordan in the fifth-place game on Friday, 7 p.m., at the same venue.