3 days ago
Kiefer Ravena, Rhenz Abando lead Strong Group Athletics in Jones Cup title defense
Mainstays Kiefer Ravena and Rhenz Abando will spearhead the Strong Group Athletics when they defend the title in the 2025 William Jones Cup that fires off next month.
Ravena and Abando will be returning for another tour of duty for the Philippine representatives alongside Jason Brickman, Dave Ildefonso, Ange Kouame, Geo Chiu, and reigning NCAA MVP Allen Liwag.
Reinforcing the squad are 6-foot-6 guard DJ Fenner, 6-foot-9 big man Tajuan Agee, and NBA veteran Andre Roberson with longtime coach Charles Tiu still calling the shots.
'Yeah, I'm excited to bring back some guys from our championship squad. This might be the first time we're able to run it back with this many returning players,' said Tiu.
SGA, however, will open its campaign without Ravena, who is expected to miss the first two games against Chinese-Taipei Blue on July 13 and the Japan Under-25 Akatsuki Five squad on July 14 due to prior commitments.
Despite that, SGA is focused on defending the crown they won last year by defeating Chinese Taipei A in a classic overtime showdown that saw the Filipinos eking out an 83-79 victory.
'The big challenge is that we'll be facing Taipei A in our very first game, and we haven't played any tune-up games yet. We'll have to see how quickly the team can gel. Kiefer will also miss a couple of games, but we're definitely looking to defend our crown,' added Tiu.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
