POWERADE-TEAM RP EYES PAYBACK AGAINST JORDAN AT START OF JONES CUP

TAIPEI – Powerade-Team Pilipinas opens its campaign in the 31st William Jones Cup tournament Saturday against Jordan, the squad that smashed two years ago the country’s dreams of returning to the Olympic stage.
Game time is set at 5 p.m. at the Hsinchuang gymnasium following the opening matches pitting Lebanon against Taiwan-B at 1 p.m. and South Korea against Kazakhstan at 3.
A 30-minute inaugural ceremony is set at 7 p.m.
Led by point guard Rasheim Wright, who had 24 points, the Jordanian ended the Philippines’ bid to qualify to the 2008 Beijing Olympics following an 84-76 victory in the preliminary round of the 24th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship in Tokushima, Japan.
Though the Jones Cup, held in honor of the founding secretary-general of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), is nothing more than a top-caliber tuneup tournament for the “real thing” – the FIBA Asia World Championship qualifier in Tianjin, China next month – the games will afford competing teams a chance to size up each other.
Facing Jordan in the opener is especially significant for the Nationals.
“We lost to them convincingly in Tokushima,” said Powerade-RP coach Yeng Guiao on arrival here Thursday. “Meeting Jordan at once will allow us to immediately find out if our preparations (for Tianjin) are on the right track.”
PBA commissioner Renauld ‘Sonny’ Barrios, head of the RP delegation, labeled the Jordan game “the real test against a strong opponent.”
Added Barrios: “This will give coach Yeng and our guys an opportunity to gauge how they are doing in their preparations for Tianjin.”
Backing Wright then are 6-foot-8 Islam Abbaas, who grabbed nine rebounds against the Philippines, and 6-foot-6 Enver Soobzokov and 6-foot-5 Sam Daghlas, both of whom had five assists.
Jordan had two 7-footers – Jamal Ma’aytah and Ayman Udais – and a 6-foot-10 center, Zaid Al-Khas.

Asi Taulava paced Team RP, which led 18-13 in the first quarter, with 14 points, while point guard Jayjay Helterbrand had five assists.
Helterbrand, who has been laboring under the strain of a pulled hamstring, gave indications he would suit up.
“If I’m there, I don’t wanna just watch,” said Helterbrand, who sat from the bench as his RP teammates swept the 8th SEABA Men’s Championship in Medan, Indonesia last April.
“I wanna really try help those guys out. If I’m capable, I wanna play. If it hurts or not, it doesn’t matter, I’ll still play.”