Chris McCullough and Jordan Heading joined hands to turn back Ukraine, 82-74, as Strong Group-Pilipinas stayed unbeaten in the 43rd William Jones Cup on Monday, July 15, at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, Taiwan. 

In a tournament where the best-performing team is set to take home the title, the surest way to claim the championship victory is to complete a sweep of the competition. 

The Philippines stayed undefeated through three outings while Chinese Taipei A and Harimau Malaysia also remained unscathed with two victories each. 

In as many games, San Miguel import McCullough carried out another team-best performance after coming up big down the stretch where scored eight points in the last two minutes to end with a game-high 28 points on top of six rebounds. 

Heading, though, stepped in early after exploding for 18 points in the first quarter on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting clip which kept Ukraine trailing in the opening, he eventually finished with 24 points. 

Following back-to-back dominant wins, it turned out to be a near miss for the Philippines which couldn’t pull away from Ukraine for good in the second half. 

But team captain Kiefer Ravena managed to deliver 10 points off his own late-game exploits which included two triples that trimmed down Strong Group’s deficit to just two, 70-72, still with 2:35 to spare. 

That’s when McCullough came through and put Strong Group on his back until endgame. 

Anatolly Shundel kept the Ukrainian side afloat after pacing them through a 17-point outing as they remained winless in two games. 

The Philippines will have its only day of rest before resuming action against Malaysia on Wednesday, July 17 at 5 p.m. to determine who will claim the top seed early into the tourney.