NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan—NBA veteran and former PBA import Al Thornton delivered the baskets that mattered most as Mighty Sports Apparels outlasted Iran, 80-73, and virtually clinch the William Jones Cup championship Friday at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium here.
Taking a cue from Dewarick Spencer, the high-scoring Thornton scored 12 of his team’s last 16 points, including back-to-back three-point plays that propelled the Philippines-Mighty Sports to its sixth win —enough to win the title no matter what happens in its last two games.
Backed by Scratch It and Symarom, Mighty Sports thus became the third club squad to win a title as the country’s representative in this prestigious tournament after the Northern Cement team in 1981 and the San Miguel Beer squad in 1985.
Thornton, who once scored 69 points for the NLEX Road Warriors, finished in double-double as he also grabbed 10 boards.
Though he’s an American, Thornton was honored to represent the country, saying he’s doing this for his Filipino fans.
“It’s very special,” said Thornton, who scored a tournament-high 30 points in the team’s 101-81 drubbing of India last Thursday.
“Our mentality is to come out here and have a good showing and gave ourselves a chance of winning the championship,” added Thornton.
The win also proved meaningful for coach Bo Perasol.
“It means so much to the company that we represent and the country that we represent to win the championship. Playing for six straight games wasn’t really easy for us. It just so happened we had experienced players, talented players. We’re happy we were able to get it done,” said Perasol.
Thornton led the way with 24 points followed by Spencer, who contributed 21 markers, nine rebounds and five assists.
This time, the Filipinos had to labor hard against a rebuilding Iranian team which competed in the tournament minus its “Big 3” in Hamed Haddadi, Samad Nikkah Bahrami and Mahdi Kamrani.
Still, they were persistent, thanks to the hot-shooting Adnan Doraghi.
Doraghi hit six triples on his way to finishing 20 points. He had three treys in the fourth period, including one in the 5:37 mark that shoved his team within striking distance, 64-63.
But that proved to be their last gallant stand as Thornton touched off 10 unanswered points to finally take the fight out of the Iranian side which suffered its third loss in six games.
Games Today:
(Xinzhuang gym)
1 p.m. – Iran vs Japan
3 p.m. – Egypt vs Mighty Sports
5 p.m. – Korea vs Taiwan-B
7 p.m. – US vs Taiwan-A