Strong Group opens Jones Cup title defense vs rival Chinese Taipei-A

MANILA, Philippines — Strong Group Athletics-Pilipinas will have a baptism of fire in its Jones Cup title defense.

As the team takes on a “much-improved” Chinese Taipei-A squad in its first game of the competition, SGA head coach Charles Tiu said he is expecting a tougher matchup this time around. 

The Philippine-based squad, last season, won the championship against the same foe after outlasting them in overtime, 83-79. 

But this time around, SGA will start off its title defense against that same squad.  

After their open practice on Wednesday, Tiu said that he is hoping that they would have gotten more practice time as they take on their rivals. 

“I wish we had an extra game to prepare for them. Then, they have a little bit of a warm-up game. But we've been following them,” the mentor told reporters. 

“They really improved so much. Their home court, of course, is a big factor. But their core has been solid. They've been improving,” he added. 

Another factor for SGA is that they will not have star guard Kiefer Ravena for at least the first two games due to prior commitments.

Ravena’s early absence will be huge, Tiu said, since he “has got a really big role in the team.”
 
“I'm expecting a tougher game. They're much better than when we played them last year.” 

SGA is made up of Javi Gomez-de Liano, Kiefer Ravena, Jason Brickman, Dave Ildefonso, Rhenz Abando, Angelo Kouame, Geo Chiu, reigning NCAA Most Valuable Player Allen Liwag, as well as DJ Fenner, Tajuan Agee, Andre Roberson and Ian Miller. 

Only Agee, Fenner, Ravena, Abando and Kouame are the holdovers from last season’s championship team.

One of the biggest challenges for SGA, Tiu said, is “getting used to the new guys.”

“But that's why, as I mentioned, we try to keep the guys intact as much as possible. I think only Ian Miller is the guy who I just met for the first time. But I think it's just getting them reps, getting them in a system,” he said. 

“It's not exactly easy. That's why we have to keep things as simple as possible… I think that's the key. You don't want to try to do too much. Just let them play, try to put them in some structure. And hopefully, build the chemistry.” 

The SGA-Chinese Taipei A matchup will be on Sunday, July 13, at 7 p.m. 

After that, the Philippine squad will take on Japan, Qatar, Australia United, Chinese Taipei-White, Malaysia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in the succeeding days.