July 12, 2006
Taipei City, Taiwan – Notre Dame sophomore forward Luke Zeller (Washington, Ind.) scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Athletes in Action to a 108-81 victory over Japan as AIA improved to 4-1 in tournament play at the 2006 William Jones Cup at the Taipei Physical Education College Gym.
Boomer Herndon of Belmont scored 28 points on 12-14 shooting and grabbed six rebounds in only 20 minutes of action to lead Athletes in Action past Japan 108-81.
It was a struggle early as Japan lead for most of the first quarter, but two quick buckets to start the second period put AIA in the lead for good. Herndon was perfect from the floor in the first half, making all six of his attempts. A seven point half-time lead quickly grew to 13 points just three minutes into the second half. Japan had no answer defensively for the larger AIA team. The size advantage also enabled AIA to out rebound Japan 59-24. Head Coach Mike Jarvis commented that, “we were able to take advantage of our height. Boomer had his best game so far with us tonight.”
Josh Carter of Texas A&M had his second consecutive double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Tony Danridge of New Mexico also recorded a double-double by scoring 20 points and pulling down 11 boards. Troy DeVries added 19 points while shooting 4 for 5 from behind the arc and Kansas’ Christian Moody snatched nine rebounds while scoring eight points.
The difference maker in the game, however, was the defense against Japan’s Yusuke Okada. Okada had averaged 31 points in the first four games of the tournament, but the tough AIA defense held him to 13 points while shooting 20 percent from the field. JaRon Jefferson from Montana State drew that assignment for most of his 30 minutes. On top of stellar defense, Jefferson scored 11 points had seven rebounds and three assists. Japan’s Yosuk Machida said, “We don’t need to rely on Okada. This was our best game so far and I think we can accomplish what coach wants. We just need to be better in the paint.”
Daniel Faris sat out the game with an ankle sprain suffered during the first half against Qatar and Dominique Kirk missed the game with a sore hamstring. Both are expected to be available for Thursday’s game against the Philippines set for 5PM.
Jones Cup Standings
Qatar 5-0
AIA 4-1
Korea 3-2
Taiwan 3-2
Australia 2-3
Kazakhstan 2-3
Philippines 1-4
Japan 0-5
Day Five Scores (Wednesday)
AIA 108, Japan 81
Kazakhstan 91, Philippines 86
Qatar 88, Korea 78
Taiwan 69, Australia 61
Day Six Schedule (Thursday)
Japan vs Kazakhstan 1PM
Australia vs Korea 3PM
AIA vs Philippines 5PM
Qatar vs Taiwan 7PM
Note: Game recap provided by Peter Warden from Athletes In Action who has travelled with the team to Taipei City.