MANILA, Philippines — Filipino coach Charles Tiu said Strong Group's recent title conquest of the William Jones Cup was a product of the lessons they learned after their painful experience in the 33rd Dubai International Basketball Championship last January.

That SGA squad had the star power after being reinforced by the likes of former NBA champion Dwight Howard, Andray Blatche, Andre Roberson and McKenzie Moore.

But a game-winning triple by ageless big man Ismail Abdelmoneim in the one-game finals broke the hearts of the Philippines-based squad, allowing Al Riyadi to capture it's second straight title in the tournament.

"It feels good," Tiu said, referring to the Jones Cup title during his interview at the Power and Play sports program of former PBA Commissioner Noli Eala.

"We all know how painful that Dubai (tournament) was. People will say we were way stronger than other teams (in the Jones Cup), but Ukraine and Chinese Taipei, both games were almost over for us. We were down by seven points against Chinese Taipei) with over a minute, but I guess God has some plans for us. It was really cool, really nice."

Strong Group bounced back from that seven-point deficit in regulation play to send the game into overtime, then had to overcome the absence of imports Chris McCullough and Tajuan Agee, who fouled out in that stretch, en route to winning the game, 83-79 and the title.

Tiu noted that after falling short in the Dubai tournament, the team set forth at putting premium at recruiting high-character players, a scoring import, referring to McCullough, who was then paired with a workhorse of a reinforcement in Agee during its Jones Cup buildup.

"I think no. 1 was to build a deeper roster. I think the local players we had were much better, and how our imports," explained Tiu. "T (Agee) was such a big blessing for us because he tried to do the little things. T was the vocal leader, he defended, set screens, and when needed he can also score."

The Strong Group mentor added that local veterans like Kiefer Ravena, Rhenz Abando, incoming PBA rookies RJ Abarrientos, Caelan Tiongson and even Dave Ildefonso, along with the rest of the members of the team contributed to the team's Jones Cup title, the seventh tournament crown for the Philippines overall.

"I like our roster construction. We played much better as a team. We defended better," he stressed. "We were together for just short time, but in the end, that championship was really about our defense, that's the difference maker."

Agee, who fired 21 points and added nine rebounds in the title clinching game, said he was pleasantly surprised to play alongside a talented and hardworking squad

"Coming to the Philippines, I didn't know you guys have all players like that," he said. "Just being honest, RJ ran like we had some really good bball players among the local guys, and that exceeded my expectation."

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