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Strong Group Athletics practice in Manila on July 9, 2025, ahead of their title defense in the 44th William Jones Cup in Taiwan. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

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ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175230707152620250709-strong-group-athletics-jones-cup-preps-MD7334.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Strong Group Athletics practice in Manila on July 9, 2025, ahead of their title defense in the 44th William Jones Cup in Taiwan. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Strong Group Athletics practice in Manila on July 9, 2025, ahead of their title defense in the 44th William Jones Cup in Taiwan. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA -- Strong Group-Philippines plunges into action in the 43rd William Jones Cup on Sunday, as they open their title defense against hosts Chinese-Taipei at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, Taiwan.</p><p>Tip-off is scheduled at 7 p.m.</p><p>It will be an immediate test for Strong Group, which hacked out an 83-79 overtime win against Chinese-Taipei&#x27;s A Team in the final of last year&#x27;s tournament to bring the gold back to the Philippines.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/7/9/strong-group-pilipinas-braces-for-tough-title-defense-in-jones-cup-2358">READ: Strong Group-Pilipinas braces for tough title defense in Jones Cup</a></div><p>This time around, Chinese-Taipei Blue will be led by a pair of NCAA Division I talents—6-foot-5 Robert Hinton of Harvard Westlake and 6-foot-5 Adam Hinton of Cornell.</p><p>Bolstering the home team&#x27;s frontline is a new import: 6-foot-9 forward Joof Alasan.</p><p>&quot;I wish we had an extra game to prepare for them,&quot; admitted Strong Group head coach Charles Tiu, whose team is supported by Bet88 and United Asia Automotive Group, Inc. &quot;They&#x27;ve already had a bit of a warm-up game, but we&#x27;ve been following them closely.&quot;</p><p>Tiu knows that this Chinese-Taipei squad has significantly improved, especially after its recent showing against Gilas Pilipinas.</p><p>&quot;We saw how they played Gilas—they&#x27;ve really improved so much. And they have the homecourt advantage, which is definitely a factor,&quot; he added. &quot;Their core has been solid and playing together for over a year. I expect this to be a much tougher game than last year because they&#x27;re just better now, plain and simple.&quot;</p><p>Despite the challenge ahead, Strong Group is bringing back a familiar and formidable core.</p><p>Suiting up once again are Rhenz Abando, Dave Ildefonso, DJ Fenner, Tajuan Agee, Angelo Kouame, Geo Chiu, and Allen Liwag.</p><p>Joining them are reinforcements Andre Roberson, Ian Miller, Jason Brickman, and Javi Gomez de Liaño.</p><p>Ildefonso and Chiu will fly to Taiwan on Sunday morning due to their mother club Abra, playing against Nueva Ecija in the MPBL on Saturday evening.</p><p>However, the team will be without star guard Kiefer Ravena for their first two assignments—against Chinese-Taipei and Japan&#x27;s developmental team—due to a prior commitment with Jordan Brand in Greece.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/7/9/kiefer-ravena-staying-positive-despite-personal-challenges-ahead-of-jones-cup-0045">READ: Kiefer Ravena staying positive despite personal challenges ahead of Jones Cup</a></div><p>Filling in for Ravena is Anthony Roberson, the younger brother of Andre.</p><p>The 6-foot-5 guard previously played in the NBA G League for the Oklahoma City Blue and is eager for this rare opportunity to share the court with his brother.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m really excited to play with Strong Group and, more importantly, to finally be on the same team as my brother,&quot; said Anthony. &quot;It&#x27;s the first time in our careers we&#x27;re doing this, and that makes it really special.</p><p>&quot;Just being able to share the floor with this group—especially after seeing how they dominated in Dubai and hearing about their Jones Cup championship—it means a lot,&quot; he added. &quot;I just want to come in, contribute however I can, and enjoy every moment.&quot;</p><p>Following Sunday&#x27;s opener and Monday&#x27;s showdown with Japan, Strong Group is in for a grueling schedule.</p><p>Strong Group will face Qatar on Tuesday, Australia&#x27;s NBL1 Select Team on Wednesday, Chinese-Taipei&#x27;s B Team on Thursday, Malaysia on Friday, Bahrain on Saturday, and the UAE on Sunday to wrap up the week-long tournament.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nQ0ckJS0VX0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Strong Group-Philippines plunges into action in the 43rd William Jones Cup on Sunday, as they open their title defense against hosts Chinese-Taipei at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, Taiwan.</p>

Strong Group-Philippines plunges into action in the 43rd William Jones Cup on Sunday, as they open their title defense against hosts Chinese-Taipei at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Strong Group opens Jones Cup title defense against Chinese-Taipei

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Strong Group opens Jones Cup title defense against Chinese-Taipei

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 13, 2025 06:00 AM PHT

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