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

The William Jones Cup has been held annually since 1977, and the 2015 edition kicked off Saturday in Chinese Taipei as eight of the nine teams entered into the tournament were in action.

That included perennial powers such as Iran and the United States, while defending champion South Korea and both Chinese Taipei host teams took the court as well. What the games lacked in terms of international name recognition, they more than made up for with some extremely well-played basketball by many of the teams.

There are still many games to be played in this year's round-robin tournament, but a few squads put themselves in an ideal position, while others will be forced to bounce back from extremely poor starts.

After one day of play, here is a look at where things stand in the form of game-by-game results, as well as the current standings.

Saturday's William Jones Cup Scores

Game	Team 1	Team 2	Score
1	South Korea	Iran	77-46, Iran
2	Chinese Taipei B	New Zealand	102-85, New Zealand
3	USA	Russia	84-65, Russia
4	Chinese Taipei A	Japan	84-82, Chinese Taipei A

William Jones Cup Standings

Rank	Team	GP	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Iran	1	1	0	77	46	+31	2
2	Russia	1	1	0	84	65	+19	2
3	New Zealand	1	1	0	102	85	+17	2
4	Chinese Taipei A	1	1	0	84	82	+2	2
5	Japan	1	0	1	82	84	-2	1
6	Chinese Taipei B	1	0	1	85	102	-17	1
7	USA	1	0	1	65	84	-19	1
8	South Korea	1	0	1	46	77	-31	1
9	Philippines	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Recapping Saturday's Games

Iran 77, South Korea 46

Iran has been among the most dominant teams in William Jones Cup history with four titles, all of which have come within the past six years. It figured to receive a stiff test from South Korea in the tournament opener, but that wasn't the case.

The Iranian side cruised to a 77-46 victory over the defending William Jones Cup winners by virtue of 13 points from Mohammad Jamshidi and another 10 from guard Mahdi Kamrani.

Center Hamed Haddadi, who has been the linchpin of Iran's national team for several years, was effective as well with seven points, one rebound and one block.

South Korea held a two-point lead after one quarter, but it was out of sorts thereafter, as Iran outscored it by 33 points the rest of the way. 

Despite South Korea's poor start, Philippines head coach Tab Baldwin expects the 2014 champs to play much better moving forward, according to Dodo Catacutan of Spin.ph:

"

One game they didn't look real good, but they have very good players and we know that is a good team. I don't know if they're tired but whatever reason why they didn't look good today doesn't give us reason to assume they're not going to be any good. We have to assume that they're going to be very good.

"

Iran may have been playing with a massive chip on its shoulder, as it finished a disappointing 2-5 in the William Jones Cup last year after winning the event four of the previous five times.

If the Iranians continue to play like they did Saturday, then the 2015 William Jones Cup could very well be a repeat of 2013, which saw them go undefeated en route to the title.

New Zealand 102, Chinese Taipei B 85

It has been 15 years since New Zealand won its first and only William Jones Cup, but that lengthy drought could very well come to an end, as the Oceanic team blew past Chinese Taipei B in a high-scoring 102-85 affair.

Almost the entirety of New Zealand's offense came from four players, as Richie Edwards, Bryan Davis, Ray Turner and Eric Devendorf all scored at least 21 points, while only six points were scored by anyone else on the team.

Edwards led the way with 28, but most basketball fans will probably remember Devendorf best, as the 28-year-old guard was a collegiate star at Syracuse. He certainly showed flashes of his college days, dominating inside the arc and at the free-throw line.

Chinese Taipei B received a great performance from guard Yi-Hsiang Chou, who netted a team-high 27 points, but he didn't get enough support from his teammates, as nobody else reached the 20-point plateau.

While Chinese Taipei B played well enough offensively to beat many of the teams in the tournament, it ran into a buzz saw in the form of the Wellington Saints on Saturday.

Russia 84, USA 65

The United States is by far the winningest nation in William Jones Cup history with 15 all-time gold medals. It hasn't won the tournament since 2006, though, and that fall from grace was apparent Saturday.

Team USA was beaten fairly easily in an 84-65 decision by Russia. The United States actually outscored Russia in the first and fourth quarters, but the damage was done in the second and third, as the Stars and Stripes scored just four points in the second frame and was outscored by nine in the third.

Russia didn't receive many standout individual performances, as Andrey Ivanov led the way with 16 points, but seven players scored at least seven points, and all but one player on the entire roster got on the scoresheet.

As for the United States, Ryan Songalia of the Ring magazine joked that it didn't exactly bring its best possible lineup to the tournament:

Team USA has relied on veterans who play overseas and were once college stars during the William Jones Cup in recent years, and that includes former Illinois guard Cory Bradford, who led all scorers with 20 points.

Former George Washington and San Jose State standout Marquin Chandler added 14 points, while Calvin Warner chipped in 12; however, no other American scored in double figures.

It was a tough start for a United States team that finished tied for the best record at 5-2 at the William Jones Cup last year, but there is definitely some battle-tested talent on the squad, which means it should be able to put the disappointing loss in the rearview mirror.

Chinese Taipei A 84, Japan 82

The host nation was in danger of starting off the William Jones Cup 0-2, but Chinese Taipei A was able to avoid that fate in dramatic fashion by outlasting Japan 84-82 in overtime.

Lawrence Lam led the way for Chinese Taipei A with 16 points, while former Tulane star and naturalized Taiwanese citizen Quincy Davis added eight points and 12 rebounds. It was a total team effort for Chinese Taipei A, as seven players contributed at least five points in the victory.

Japan had four players score in double figures in the form of Joji Takeuchi, Takatoshi Furukawa, Makoto Hiejima and Keijuro Matsui. Unfortunately for the Japanese squad, the rest of the team was fairly quiet offensively, including former Phoenix Suns guard Yuta Tabuse, who didn't score a single point in 14 minutes of action.

Chinese Taipei has two shots at winning the William Jones Cup, and it certainly seems as though the A squad is the best bet to this point.

There is no question that Chinese Taipei A was fortunate to escape with a victory over a very difficult Japan team, but it certainly established itself as one of the top contenders to win it all in 2015. 

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.