Team Pilipinas defeats Taiwan team B, 94-90

TAIPEI – Powerade-Team Pilipinas found some reason to breath easier before it faces league-leading Iran at the close of the 31st William Jones Cup, getting past Taiwan-B, 94-90, Saturday at the Hsinchuang gym.

Willie Miller scored 22 points, Arwind Santos added 16 and Jared Dillinger 13 points as the Nationals, who had strips of yellow adhesives taped to their jerseys in honor of ailing former president Corazon C. Aquino, ended a three-game losing streak in improving to 2-5.

Taiwan’s second team absorbed its sixth loss in seven games but not after giving the RP team, which led 92-81 on Miller’s free throws with less than two minutes remaining, another endgame scare.

The Nationals were more up to the task this time despite national coach Yeng Guiao’s decision to turn the last few minutes of the game into a practicum for Dillinger, Santos and Japeth Aguilar.

“I wanted to see how they would react in the end without the benefit of a timeout or key players with them inside,” said Guiao.

Dillinger and Aguilar missed four free throws in succession, leaving Taiwan-B within 92-88, but Santos, a consistent member of the PBA’s All-Defensive team, stole the ball from forward Chang Tsung and converted a breakaway layup for 94-88 with 35 seconds to go.

“Taiwan is a tough team to beat because of its quickness,” Guiao said. “They broke down our individual defense. And when we tried to play a zone, they shot well from the outside and so we had to revert to the man-to-man.”

In an earlier game, Jordan, which forfeited its Thursday’s game with Iran in protest over officiating, crushed Japan, 93-58, for its sixth win in seven outings.

Meanwhile, PBA commissioner Renauld ‘Sonny’ Barrios exhorted the national players early in the morning to “shape up for the mission ahead,” reminding them that only an “optimum performance” can spell success in the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship in Tianjin, China two weeks from now.

Speaking to team members, including national coach Yeng Guiao and manager JB Baylon, after a Mass offered at the Sunworld Dynasty Hotel for the recovery of Mrs. Aquino who is gravely ill, Barrios addressed the need for the players to get in top condition and to work on their outside shooting and free throws.

“Do it for yourselves, the PBA, and – take this seriously for they are not empty words – for flag and country,” Barrios said.

Quoting excepts from “Values of the Game,” a book written by NBA legend and former 3-term United States senator Bill Bradley, Barrios spoke of the essentials required to excel in the game.

“If you can’t run, you can’t win,” Barrios said, reading from the paperback. “And the only way to improve your shooting is to shoot.”

In the book, Bradley wrote about his personal off-season shooting regimen: taking 25 shots from five different spots.

“He shoots 25 from one area and he has to make them all,” Barrios told the players. “If he misses on the 23rd, then he returns to No. 1. That’s the kind of discipline and dedication Bill Bradley put to improve his game.”

The starting forward of the ‘70s New York Knicks also recalled the time Hubie Brown, then an assistant coach with the 1972 Milwaukee Bucks, went to practice an hour and a half ahead of schedule with the intention of impressing head coach Larry Costello.

“Lo and behold! Who was there when Hubie Brown arrived? Kareem Abdul Jabbar, practicing his skyhook,” Barrios said. “And what Kareem did, according to the book, was put a smaller rim inside the regular ring and shoot through it.”

Barrios brought to the RP players’ attention percentages gathered from the 2007 RP-Tokushima team coached by Chot Reyes, the latest season of the NBA and the PBA, and the Powerade-RP’s performance in the 8th SEABA Men’s Championship in Medan last June.

“Sad to say, guys, we’re lagging behind, fourth and last, in combined field goal percentage, especially in three-point conversion, and in free throw shooting,” he said. “So now you know what kind of work you have to cram into the last 10 days.”

The coaching staff’s decision to name Ryan Reyes and Ranidel de Ocampo as alternates was also brought up.

“We would have submitted all 14 players to the FIBA Asia but the requirement was just for 12,” Barrios said. “However, this we told the two guys and this I share to all of you now: the coach has the discretion to change anybody in the lineup three days before the tournament begins if he feels a need for it.

“So I’m urging all of you to shape up and be in the best condition that you can be within the next few days.”

Barrios paid tribute, first to Wynne Arboleda, the veteran Burger King playmaker, for “being around to help the team,” and then to the rest of the RP, acknowledging “you work so hard within very limited parameters.”

Expressing his “faith” in them, Barrios concluded by saying, “We shall sink or swim with this team, but we have to play as one.”

The Mass, originally scheduled Sunday, was officiated by Fr. Joy Tajonera. M.M., a native of Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro, and was arranged through the Sacred Heart of Joes & the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Chapel and UGNAYAN, a migrant and immigrant ministry based here.

The scores:

POWERADE-RP 94 – Miller 22, Santos 16, Dillinger 13, Baguio 12, Raymundo 6, Taulava 6, Norwood 6, Aguilar 6, De Ocampo 4, Thoss 2, Arboleda 2.

TAIWAN-B 90 – Chang T.H. 24, Kin 17, Chen 12, Lin 8, Chen Y.A. 8, Lu 6, Lo 5, Tsai 4, Hung 3, Wang 3, Lin C.J. 0.

Quarterscores: 28-22; 48-41; 69-67; 94-90