Jones Cup: Rain or Shine loses to Korean champion Anyang KGC

Rain or Shine in the 42nd William Jones Cup. –CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Rain or Shine was forced to play catch-up after a slow start and fell to Korean Basketball League champion Anyang KGC, 87-77, in the 42nd William Jones Cup on Thursday at Taipei Heping Gymnasium.

The Elasto Painters trailed 22-7 at the start but couldn’t cut the margin down to 10 points during their comeback try in the second half as Anyang handed the PBA side its fifth defeat in six matches in the international cagefest.

Inflicting some of the damage on Rain or Shine was former PBA import Du’vaughn Maxwell, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Maxwell played for Phoenix in the 2022 and 2023 Governors’ Cup.

Andrei Caracut and Ange Kouame were once again the bright spots for Rain or Shine, which has two games left in the competition.

Caracut had 19 points while Kouame produced 15 points and 13 rebounds for the struggling Elasto Painters, who’ll finally take a break on Friday before completing their campaign this weekend.

Rain or Shine plays the U-22 team of Japan on Saturday before taking on US NCAA Division I side University of California, Irvine.

Ji Hoon Park fired 25 points to topscore for Anyang KGC, which beat a PBA team for the second time this year.

Anyang dominated San Miguel Beer, 142-87, during the East Asia Super League Champions Week in Okinawa, Japan last March, eventually winning the championship.

Rhenz Abando was not part of Anyang’s Jones Cup stint due to his involvement in Gilas Pilipinas’ preparations for the Fiba World Cup which starts next week.