WELLINGTON walloped Chinese Taipei, 108-80, to open hostilities in the MVP Cup on Friday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Saints, a top club side from New Zealand, leaned on a balanced effort led by Brook Ruscoe and Ray Turner to score the wire-to-wire victory in the four-team pocket tournament that serves as a vital part of Gilas Pilipinas’ preparations for the Fiba Asia Championship.
Ruscoe and Turner led five Saints in double figures with 25 points each, while playing-coach Kevin Braswell finished with an all-around eight points, 11 assists, four boards, and three steals.
The Saints next face Gilas on Saturday in a rematch of their thrilling Jones Cup match that the Filipino dribblers won, 92-88, in overtime.
The scores:
WELLINGTON 108 – Ruscoe 25, Turner 25, Davis 18, Watkins 14, Edwards 13, Braswell 8, Newton 3, Ekenasio 2, Bloxham 0, Mills 0
CHINESE TAIPEI 80 – Liu 13, Tien 11, Tsai 11, Lu 9, Wu 7, Chen SH 7, Chen SC 5, Hung 5, Chen SN 4, Lin 0
Quarterscores: 31-24, 45-42, 76-60, 108-80
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