USA vs. Russia: Score and Reaction from 2015 William Jones Cup

Russia's CPM Sakhalin scored an 84-65 victory over United States representative Select-Overtake to open the 2015 William Jones Cup in New Taipei City, Taiwan on Saturday.

Andrey Ivanov led the way for the winning side with 16 points and five assists. Kostiantyn Glazyrin added 14 points for the Russians while Dmitrii Uzinskiy chipped in with 12 points and six rebounds. Cory Bradford had 20 points and seven rebounds in a losing effort.

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Select-Overtake (USA)	22	4	24	15	65
CPM Sakhalin (RUS)	20	18	33	13	84

The tournament is an important warm-up event for national teams from Iran and the Philippines, among others, which are preparing for this month's FIBA Asia Championship. For the others, including the Americans and Russians, is a highly competitive series of exhibitions.

After a tight first quarter, the Russian defense came alive in the second to completely shut down the American attack. Select-Overtake scored just four points, making two of 12 shots and turning the ball over eight times.

CPM Sakhalin led by 12 at halftime and stretched its edge to 21 by the end of the third on the strength of a 33-point quarter.

Select-Overtake was more game in the fourth, but the matchup was already firmly in hand for the Russians and there were no hints of a serious comeback bid.

Sports 5 highlighted the result:

Of course, it's not an American roster anywhere close to the one fans see in more high-profile international events, as Ryan Songalia of Rappler joked:

CPM Sakhalin faces off with South Korea on Sunday, which is one of the teams getting prepared for the Asian Championship. It suffered a 31-point loss to reigning Asian champions Iran earlier on Day 1.

Select-Overtake also returns to action on Day 2 for a clash with Japan. The Americans must become more consistent on both ends of the floor to get any positive results from the tournament. There's clearly plenty of room for improvement after a lopsided loss to the Russian side.