Jones Cup 5 debuts versus Jordan today

TAIPEI—The Philippine five opens its Jones Cup bid against Jordan on Saturday afternoon and coach Chot Reyes was candid enough to admit that they never did any scouting on the Jordanians or their other foes in the tournament for that matter.

“If they have the same coach and the same players, then we pretty much have an idea on how they play,” Reyes said after arriving in this bustling city, stressing that this would just be a learning experience for the team that he assembled last April.

Game time is 5 p.m. at the Taipei Physical Education College gym where three games will be played before the formal opening ceremonies at 7 p.m.

The Philippines has not won this tournament since 1998 with the Centennial Team handled by Tim Cone.  The Filipinos, represented last year by the original Smart-Gilas players, will seek to improve on last year’s third place finish.

Nine teams from eight countries are entered, including one from the United States and Asian powers Iran and Lebanon.  The host country will be fielding  two squads.

Sam Douglas, an American-educated, 6-foot-3 point guard, will be leading the Jordanians against the Filipinos, who suffered a heart-rending defeat to Jordan in the Fiba-Asia Olympic qualifying in Wuhan.

That loss  in the semifinals came after the Filipinos had beaten Jordan handily in the elimination round.

Needing badly to win that game, Chris Tiu, Marcio Lassiter and Jimmy Alapag proved big disappointments with a combined 0-of-21 performance from the perimeter.

This batch of Nationals could be one of the strongest the Philippines has sent to an international meet in years mainly because they are backed by some PBA stars and reinforced by 6-foot-10 Marcus Douthit.

Douthit was enlisted by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas as a naturalized citizen and has been with the PH five for more than two years.

Gabriel Norwood, Gary David, Sonny Thoss and LA Tenorio are among the veteran pros in the lineup, which has an amateur hotshot in Garvo Lanete.