Rain or Shine falls to Chinese Taipei A in Jones Cup opener
At A Glance
- TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Rain or Shine opened its Jones Cup campaign on the wrong foot, absorbing a 98-79 defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei-A at the Taipei Heping Gymnasium here on Saturday Aug. 12.
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Rain or Shine opened its Jones Cup campaign on the wrong foot, absorbing a 98-79 defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei-A at the Taipei Heping Gymnasium here on Saturday Aug. 12.

The Elasto Painters started out flat and looked a step slower against the hosts with Senegalese-Taiwanese Mohammad Al Bachir Gadiaga and naturalized player William Artino setting the tone for the rout.
Gadiaga and Artino combined for 17 of Chinese Taipei's 40 points in the first quarter which set the tone throughout the match.
The two carry most of the offense for the Taiwanese with Artino putting up 23 points and nine rebounds and Gadiaga adding 22 points.
They were also amply supported by Chien Ting Lin, who fired 16 points as Chinese Taipei took total control of the contest, even stretching the lead to as many as 31 points, 77-46, midway through the third frame.
Andrei Caracut paced the Elasto Painters with 18 points while Ange Kouame had a double-double effort of 16 points and 15 rebounds but it didn't help that the other ROS reinforcement in Nick Evans was held scoreless in the first half.
Evans, however, woke up in the second half to still finish with 14 points and 11 rebounds but it came a little too late as the huge deficit proved to be already too big to overcome in the final frame.
Rain or Shine has the chance to bounce back and pick up its first win on Sunday, Aug. 13, when it takes on Chinese Taipei team B.
Easier said than done, though, with the crowd also expected to rally behind their second team which earlier dominated the U22 Japan team, 85-59.