NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — On paper, Strong Group-Pilipinas walked away from the 2026 William Jones Cup with the kind of record normally associated with a championship contender.
Six wins. One loss.
Yet when the tournament ended for the Philippine side, Strong Group was celebrating neither a championship nor even a semifinal appearance.
Instead, it was fifth.
Strong Group closed its campaign with a hard-earned 96-91 victory over Jordan on Friday, August 21, at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, finishing the tournament on a six-game winning streak after dropping its opening assignment.
And that strange combination—a dominant record but only a fifth-place finish—may ultimately be what people remember most about Strong Group’s 2026 Jones Cup campaign.
Boban Marjanović Takes Over Against Jordan
Former NBA center Boban Marjanović delivered his biggest performance when Strong Group needed a strong finish, producing 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists against Jordan.
Tajuan Agee added 17 points, four rebounds and three steals, while Matthew Wright scored 15. Ian Miller also finished with 15, according to Inquirer coverage of the game.
Jordan refused to make the classification game easy.
Strong Group carried a narrow 50-48 halftime advantage, but Jordan turned the game around in the third quarter, outscoring the Philippine representative 26-21 to enter the fourth ahead, 74-71.
That was when Strong Group responded.
The Philippine side won the final quarter 25-17, turning a three-point deficit into the 96-91 victory.
Daily Tribune reported that Strong Group had fallen behind by seven, 63-56, midway through the third quarter before gradually working its way back. Ian Miller’s drive with 6:29 remaining helped trigger a critical 13-4 run that swung the game toward the Philippine team.
Jordan was led by Hadi Alshami with 21 points, while Abdullah Olajuwon scored 18. Olajuwon is the son of Basketball Hall of Famer and two-time NBA champion Hakeem Olajuwon.
One Loss All Tournament—and Still No Semifinal
Strong Group’s final record makes the story far more unusual.
The team finished 5-1 during the group phase and 6-1 overall after beating Jordan.
Its only loss came in the tournament opener, when South Korea’s Wonju DB Promy routed Strong Group, 110-79.
Strong Group then went on a tear.
It defeated Japan, Chinese Taipei Blue, Japan again, Wonju DB in the rematch and Chinese Taipei Blue once more before beating Jordan in the fifth-place game.
Among the most impressive results was a 113-87 revenge victory over Wonju DB, followed by a staggering 117-74 demolition of Chinese Taipei Blue.
The problem was that winning almost every game was not enough.
The Jones Cup Format Became the Bigger Story
Strong Group entered the competition trying to win a third consecutive Jones Cup championship.
Instead, its title defense ended before the semifinals because of the competition’s new format.
Strong Group and Wonju DB both finished the group stage at 5-1, but Wonju held the relevant tiebreak advantage. At the same time, host team Chinese Taipei Blue had been guaranteed a semifinal berth under the tournament setup despite finishing the group stage with a 1-5 record.
That meant Strong Group, despite having five wins against only one group-stage loss, was pushed into the fifth-place classification game.
The contrast became even harder to ignore after Strong Group destroyed Chinese Taipei Blue by 43 points, 117-74, in their final group-stage meeting.
Coach Charles Tiu made no secret of what his team wanted that result to communicate.
He said Strong Group wanted to produce a convincing victory to demonstrate that it belonged in the championship conversation, describing the outcome of the format as deeply unfortunate.
Organizers Later Apologized
The controversy became significant enough that the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association, which organizes the Jones Cup, publicly addressed the backlash.
According to Inquirer and other reports, the association acknowledged criticism surrounding the format and said it would review and improve the tournament structure and scheduling for future editions.
The organizers explained that changes had been introduced partly to reduce consecutive playing days and provide teams with additional recovery time.
But guaranteeing the host side a semifinal position became the most contentious part of the system once Chinese Taipei Blue struggled in the standings while Strong Group continued winning.
The association said it would take the criticism into account when planning future tournaments.
From 0-1 to Six Straight Wins
There is another way to look at Strong Group’s campaign.
After being demolished by Wonju DB in the opener, the Philippine side could have unraveled.
Instead, it never lost again.
Strong Group reeled off six consecutive victories to finish 6-1 overall, including blowout wins over some of the same teams that remained in championship contention.
The roster also showed considerable offensive depth throughout the tournament.
Alongside Marjanović were players such as Tajuan Agee, Isaiah Piñeiro, Matthew Wright, Remy Martin, DJ Fenner, Ian Miller, William Navarro, Dave Ildefonso, Shaun Ildefonso, Jonathan Manalili and Malick Diouf.
Different players carried the scoring load on different nights.
Piñeiro scored 25 against Japan. Wright erupted for 24 during the revenge victory over Wonju DB. Marjanović then became the centerpiece against Jordan.
That versatility makes the final placement even more striking.
Fifth Place Doesn’t Tell the Entire Story
Officially, Strong Group-Pilipinas finished fifth in the 2026 William Jones Cup.
That result is indisputable.
But simply reading the standings misses what happened in Taiwan.
Strong Group lost once, recovered, won six straight games and finished with one of the tournament’s strongest records.
Its championship defense was ultimately stopped not by another defeat on the court, but by a competition format that created an unusual path into the semifinals—and generated enough backlash for the organizers themselves to promise a review.
The victory over Jordan therefore became something more than a fifth-place playoff.
It became Strong Group’s final statement.
Six wins. One loss. Fifth place.
And that may ensure the 2026 Jones Cup is remembered less for where Strong Group finished than for the question its campaign left behind:
How can a team go 6-1 and still never get the chance to play for the championship?
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