Team Pilipinas defeats Kazakhstan 85-67

The bleeding finally stopped for Powerade-Team Pilipinas.

After two straight losses, the Nationals finally rebounded with a vengeful 85-67 win over Kazakhstan, their first in the 31st William Jones Cup tournament Monday at the Hsinchuang gym in Taipei.

Willie Miller led the RP team with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists backstopped by Ranidel de Ocampo, who added 11 points on a 5-of-6 clip, and 6-foot-10 Japeth Aguilar, who punctuated the breakout win with a number of rim-bending dunks.

The victory restored a measure of respect for the Nationals, who suffered one of their worst beatings at the hands of the defending champion Jordanians – a 31-point loss Saturday – and a heartbreaker to host Taiwan Sunday.

“We’re just happy to win," said national coach Yeng Guiao. “The important thing is we’re improving everyday, and we hope to get better in the next few games."

The Philippines takes on long-time Asian rival Japan at 3 p.m. Tuesday in a battle of teams bracketed in Group A of the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship in Tianjin, China next month.

“Am I happy? Not totally because we lost our first two games in a bad way," Guiao said. “But the prospects are good. Ang importante, may laban tayo sa Japan at Korea. We’ll focus on that first."

After Lebanon on Wednesday, the Nationals face South Korea, which barely scraped past Kazakhstan, 75-73, in the opener.

JayJay Helterbrand returned after sitting out the first two games, putting aside tenseness in his left thigh in contributing seven points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal in 17 minutes.

Oleg Kiselev, one of the Kazakhstan coaches, complimented the RP team’s aggressive running game and second half zone defense.

“They showed fantastic basketball. We couldn’t handle their fast break game," Kiselev said through an interpreter. “We also struggled against their zone and we couldn’t fight till the end of the game."

The Kazakhs are bringing with them three additional players to the Tianjin tournament – two big men and a point guard – and could face the Philippines again if both of them reach the quarterfinal round.

No Philippine team has beaten Kazakhstan dating back to the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games where it lost to Tim Cone’s RP-Centennial squad.

The Kazakhs beat out the Nationals for third place in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, a game the RP team went through will little emotion after losing to South Korea in the semifinal on a buzzer-beating 3-point shot by Lee Sang-Min.

A far cry from the nature of their first two starts, the Nationals came out blazing, opening a 22-12 lead in the first quarter on the way to several 20-point spreads, the last on a De Ocampo fast break layup, 78-58, with four minutes left.

The Scores:

Philippines 85 - Miller 13, Aguilar 11, De Ocampo 11, Yap 9, Thoss 8, Norwood 7, Helterbrand 7, Baguio 6, Raymundo 6, Santos 5, Dillinger 2, Taulava 0.

Kazakhstan 67 - Dmitriy 23, Alexandr 16, Rustam 12, Vselovod 12, Ivan 2, Roman 2, Ilya 0, Voyeikov 0.

Quarterscores: 22-12, 45-36, 67-53, 85-67