MBA All-Stars trip Russians in Jones Cup

TAIPEI – The MBA All-Stars opened up its campaign in the 25th William Jones Cup on a high note, toppling the much taller Russian club Lokomotive Novosibirsk, 78-68, in the lone game played at the Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC) Gymnasium Monday night.

The game was close all throughout with the Filipinos needing a strong finish to beat the Russians, third-placers in last year’s Jones Cup, and 79-90 losers against the South Korea Military Team last Saturday.

It was a revenge of sorts for the Filipinos after the same Russian squad whipped the Laguna Lakers, 81-71, in the battle for third place last year.

Reynel Hugnatan of the RCPI Negros Slashers summoned all his strength underneath to outplay his bigger Russian defenders and lead the Filipinos with 17 points on a 6-of-10 shooting from the field. Peter June Simon of the Professional Davao Eagles added 14 points while LBC Batangas Blades stalwarts Eddie Laure and Alex Compton were the other Filipinos in double digits with 12 and 11, respectively.

Seven-footer Denis Sevastianov led the Russians with 16 points and 13 rebounds while Konstantin Guerassimov added 13 points.

The win placed the Filipinos just half-a-game behind early leaders SINA Lions of China and Great Mates of Australia, both with clean 2-0 win-loss cards. The Filipino pros were locked in a battle with the University of Alberta Golden Bears at presstime yesterday. The Bears are the reigning Canada Inter-University Athletic Union (CIAU) men’s basketball champions.

The MBA All-Stars will face host and defending champion Chinese-Taipei NT this afternoon at 5:30 also at the TPEC Gym. The hosts are still winless in two games, bowing to Japan (72-74) and Australia (85-93) and were set to face the Russians last night.

The MBA All-Stars are expected to get a big morale boost with the arrival of MBA president Jean Henri Lhuillier in time for today’s important game. Cebuana Lhuillier Gems general manager Danny Francisco will accompany him.