RP 5 scores breakthru vs Kazakhs

TAIPEI – Powerade Team Pilipinas finally got into the groove of things after dropping its first two games, drubbing Kazakhstan, 85-67, in the 31st William Jones Cup basketball competitions at the Hsinchuang Gymnasium here yesterday.

Behind the starting unit of Japeth Aguilar, Asi Taulava, Willie Miller, James Yap and Gabe Norwood, the Nationals came out strong and sustained a bristling pace throughout to beat the Kazakhs for the first time since the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

The Nationals held their own in rebounding and ran the Kazakhs to the ground with a running game anchored on Miller and the returning Jayjay Helterbrand.

The RP-Kazakh game was marked by several “firsts” for the Nationals here. It was the first time they got off to a strong start, dictated the tempo, hit treys and eventually won.

“It can’t be said this is an indication of what would happen in Tianjin because everybody’s just feeling each other out. It’s more of strategic (play) for most of the teams here,” said RP coach Yeng Guiao.

“The important thing is that we’re improving and we’re getting used to the brand of play in international competitions,” Guiao said.

“The Philippines showed fantastic basketball. One of the reasons we lost was that we couldn’t handle their fastbreak. Second, we struggled against the zone. We couldn’t fight it the whole game,” said Kazakhstan coach Oleg Kiselev through an interpreter.

Kazakhstan is a potential quarterfinal round opponent for the Philippines in Tianjin. It could well be a different story as three Kazakh star players are joining their team there.

Left at home are 6-foot-10 Anton Ponomarev, pointguard Berik Ismail and power forward Akhmet Omirzak. Ponomarev is said to be the best Kazakh player who’s an NBA draft prospect.

The Philippines scored its first win in three games here while Kazakhstan, semifinalist in the last Asian meet in Tokushima, Japan, remained winless in three starts following losses to Korea and Iran.

The Nationals were beaten by the Kazakhs in their last two encounters, the first in the battle for the bronze in the 2002 Busan Asiad and second in the 2007 Jones Cup. The Philippines beat Kazakhstan for the bronze medal in the 1998 Bangkok Asiad.

Miller topscored for Powerade-RP for the second straight game, making 13 points on top of five rebounds, five assists and one steal in 23 minutes of action.

Helterbrand, playing for the team for the first time since the PBA All-Star festivities, came through with seven points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal in 16 minutes.