William Jones Cup 2015: Scores, Updated Bracket and Standings After Wednesday

The United States' Select-Overtake squad provided the biggest surprise of the 2015 William Jones Cup so far with a 15-point triumph over Iran on Wednesday. It marked the first loss of the event for the Asian power and muddled the top of the tournament standings.  

Both the Philippines and Russia took advantage of the opening to move within a win of tying first place by knocking off Japan and Chinese Taipei (White), respectively. It should make for a lot of drama over the final four days of the round-robin showcase.

Let's check out the full list of results from Day 5 in Taiwan, along with a look at the updated standings and a recap of the action.

Wednesday's Results

Game	Winning Team	Losing Team	Score
17	USA Select-Overtake	Iran	81-66
18	Philippines	Japan	75-60
19	South Korea	New Zealand	74-70
20	Russia	Chinese Taipei (White)	97-67

Updated Standings

Rank	Team	W	L	PD	PTS
1	Iran	4	1	+72	9
2	Russia	4	1	+41	9
3	South Korea	3	2	-3	8
4	Chinese Taipei (Blue)	3	1	+28	7
5	Philippines	3	1	+25	7
6	USA Select-Overtake	2	3	-22	7
7	New Zealand	1	3	-4	5
8	Japan	0	4	-53	4
9	Chinese Taipei (White)	0	4	-84	4

USA Select-Overtake defeats Iran, 81-66

This game was expected to feature a lopsided result—just in the opposite direction. Iran looked dominant through its first four games, and the Americans struggled to find any semblance of consistency. But everything fell into place Wednesday as they pulled off the upset.

Calvin Warner led the charge for Select-Overtake. The Iranians had no answer for him in the post as he scored 34 points on 11-of-14 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds. Cory Bradford chipped in 15 points and Marquin Chandler had a double-double (10 points, 10 boards) in the victory.

Yonas Lalehzadeh and Saeid Davarpanah were the only players to reach double figures in scoring for the losing side. The tournament leaders also lost the rebounding battle and had more turnovers than assists in a game they would probably rather forget.

It's likely an instance of Iran looking past USA Select-Overtake with a huge clash against the Philippines looming Thursday. A bounce-back win in that contest would quickly erase the bad vibes from the loss.

Philippines defeats Japan, 75-60

Slowly, but surely, the Philippines is starting to round into form ahead of the FIBA Asia Championship later in the month. After going winless in the Toyota Four Nations Cup, Gilas Pilipinas have made noticeable progress so far in Taiwan.

Terrence Romeo had 16 points to spearhead the offensive effort, and the Philippines also owned the boards (45-33), leading to a lot of easy second-chance looks. All told, head coach Tab Baldwin was pleased with what he witnessed, as noted by Musong R. Castillo of Inquirer.net: "It's the best basketball we played. We're getting better, but we're not good enough yet to win the FIBA Asia."

Joji Takeuchi had a solid showing with 15 points and 13 rebounds for the losing side. He received little support, however, as Japan continues to seek its first win in the tournament. Its schedule does get easier the rest of the way, though.

As mentioned, a crucial encounter between the Philippines and Iran awaits on Thursday. It'll be the best measuring stick yet for the rejuvenated Gilas Pilipinas.

South Korea defeats New Zealand, 74-70

In the day's most competitive game, South Korea used a 25-point fourth quarter to overcome a four-point deficit against New Zealand. The victory keeps the Koreans on the fringes of the championship picture with a couple of winnable games on the horizon.

Moon Tae-jong had 20 points and eight rebounds in the win. That said, the key player was Kim Tae-sul, who scored just two points but racked up 11 assists. That's four more than New Zealand had as a team, and it made a difference in the final period.

Ray Turner had a strong outing for the losing squad with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Bryan Davis also found success down low with 16 points and seven boards. New Zealand didn't get anything going from beyond the arc, though, making just two of its 11 attempts from three.

South Korea will look to stay within striking distance of the top spot when it faces off with Chinese Taipei (White) on Thursday.

Russia defeats Chinese Taipei (White), 97-67

Russia moved into a tie with Iran at 4-1 with its blowout of the host nation's White Team, which is the weaker of the two squads.

Alimdzhan Fediushin topped the five Russian players in double figures with 18 points. Aleksei Goliakhov added 16 points, four rebounds and four assists as part of one of the best across-the-board performances by any team in the tournament to date.

Chi-Min Lu and Wei-Ju Chien combined to score 33 points for Chinese Taipei. The rest of the squad scored just 34, though. The loss leaves the White Team at the bottom of the standings for at least another day.

Along with Iran against the Philippines, Thursday will also feature another high-profile matchup as Russia battles Chinese Taipei's strong Blue Team. Those two matchups will go a long way in determining the eventual champion.