By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
And that is why, you can never relax in the game of basketball when you’re going up against the best Filipino hoopers.
Down by seven points with only a minute remaining, Strong Group-Pilipinas already looked dead in the water during the championship match of the 2024 Jones Cup basketball tournament against Chinese-Taipei.
However, a magical final push propelled the Filipinos to a majestic run, managing to carve out some clutch shots to force overtime and eventually win the title game in a come-from-behind fashion, 83-79, on July 21, 2024, at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, Taiwan.
The Chinese-Taipei squad was already celebrating after they converted another deuce that extended their lead to seven points, 71-64, with only a minute left in the do-or-die game.
Tasked with a difficult obligation to pull off a miracle with time not on their side, Strong Group-Pilipinas relied on their never-say-die attitude and wrapped up the regulation on a 9-2 scoring run.
With only 47 seconds remaining and Strong Group trailing by five points, Kiefer Ravena kicked off their impressive comeback after stealing a Chinese-Taipei possession that led to an easy layup for Jordan Heading, trimming their deficit to just three points, 71-68.
After a completed defensive stop on the other end, Tajuan Agee was fouled on his way to the basket and converted both his free throws to pull within a point, 71-70.
Disaster then struck Chinese-Taipei after Agee stole their inbounding pass that resulted in a wide-open three-point attempt from Kiefer Ravena in the right baseline.
Heading first got the leather in their final possession at the top of the key but decided to attack in the middle to draw more defenders, leaving Ravena open who swished the go-ahead trey bucket.
Just when the Filipinos thought that a near celebration would take place, Chinese-Taipei had other plans after forcing overtime when their follow-up attempt off a miss was called good.
It was a tight battle in the overtime period as both squads figured in an intense chess match involving the rotation of their personnel.
However, the Filipinos finally went ahead after a goaltending call was assessed on Chinese-Taipei during a block attempt on Chris McCullough’s shot.
From that point, Chinese-Taipei only managed to score a point with still two minutes left while Strong Group sank crucial shots from the charity stripe to officially call themselves kings of the 2024 Jones Cup.
Agee spearheaded the Strong Group comeback after leading his team with 21 points and nine rebounds while DJ Fenner added 15 markers and nine boards.
Meanwhile, RJ Abarrientos played a solid game, chipping in 14 points built from three triples while Ravena chipped in nine points.
