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

William Jones Cup play continued Sunday evening as eight of the nine teams entered in the tournament were in action. 

Russia and South Korea played a thriller that went down to the wire, Iran continued its early run of dominance, the United States righted its ship and the Philippines capped the evening off by sending the hosts home with an 0-2 record for the day.

The round-robin event still has a week remaining so there is plenty of time for change, but Iran and Russia have given themselves a cushion over the first two days. With that in mind, let's take a quick look around the William Jones Cup action and see how everything played out.

William Jones Cup Standings

Team	Games	Wins	Losses	Point Differential	Points
Iran	2	2	0	+53	4
Russia Spartak Primorye	2	2	0	+21	4
United States USA Select-Overtake	2	1	1	−4	3
New Zealand Wellington Saints	1	1	0	+17	2
Philippines	1	1	0	+8	2
Chinese Taipei A (Blue)	2	1	1	−6	3
Japan	2	0	2	−17	2
South Korea	2	0	2	−33	2
Chinese Taipei B (White)	2	0	2	−39	2

Sunday Recap/Scores

Russia 86, South Korea 84

Aleksei Fedorchuk scored a team-high 18 points as one of five Russian players in double figures as Russia pulled off an 86-84 win over South Korea.

Close from the opening tip, Russia was able to overcome a late South Korea charge to hold on. Sunhyung scored a game-high 24 points, knocking down eight of his nine shots from inside the three-point arc. South Korea put up 23 points overall in the fourth, erasing a seven-point deficit heading into the quarter but couldn't quite finish off the comeback.

Jongkyu Kim and Taeyoung Moon each scored 11 points. Overall, South Korea knocked down 56 percent of its shots from two-point range but was 4-of-24 overall from distance.

Russia was a far more respectable 10-of-23, including three makes from Fedorchuk and Aleksei Goliakhov. Fedorchuk had a sterling contest, finishing with 11 rebounds and three assists to go along with his 18 points. Andrey Ivanov (14 points), Ivan Savelev (13 points), Goliakhov (12 points) and Alimdzhan Fediushin (11 points) were each in double figures for the Russians.

Savelev has quickly emerged as the Russians' best playmaker, adding seven assists—albeit against a disconcerting five turnovers. Russia is one of two 2-0 teams in the field and sits in second place thanks to its plus-21 point differential.

Iran 88, Chinese Taipei B 66

Two days, two emphatic victories for Iran. Mashayekhi Sajjad scored a game-high 20 points while Mohammad Hassanzadeh Saber and Afagh Hamed added 16 apiece in the 88-66 blowout of Chinese Taipei B.

Iran has won its two games thus far in the William Jones Cup by 53 points, spearheaded by a brilliant defensive effort. Iranian opponents have scored 112 points, which is 37 fewer than any other team has allowed (minimum two games).

There is not much positivity to be found for the hosts, who would have lost by a lot more had Iran not taken its foot off the gas in the fourth quarter. Iran held Chinese Taipei to 20 first-half points and was ahead by 33 points by the end of three quarters.

Sajjad and Hamed were both on fire from beyond the arc, combining for seven of Iran's made threes. Both players were highly efficient overall, missing a combined three shots between them. Saber did all of his work inside, knocking down seven of his nine two pointers and adding nine rebounds and three assists. Iran did a nice job of moving the ball around as four players wound up having at least three assists.

It will be interesting to see if Iran can keep up its stellar play as the tournament progresses. At the moment, its two opponents occupy the bottom of the standings—meaning at least some of this ascent may be the result of a good draw.

Luckily, that probably won't be happening for at least another day as Iran will face off against an 0-2 Japan team on Monday.

USA 91, Japan 76

Japan pushed Chinese Taipei to overtime before suffering its first loss. Its second wasn't nearly as close. Marquin Chandler scored 26 points and five USA players were in double figures in Sunday's 91-76 victory.

Chandler, who played at George Washington and San Jose State before embarking on an overseas career, added eight rebounds and four assists. The 6'8" forward has emerged as a leader on the U.S. team, which is largely comprised of former college players who now play overseas. He has scored 40 points and added 14 games through two games.

Calvin Warner (18 points, 14 rebounds) and Derek Hall (10 points, 10 rebounds) added double-doubles for the U.S. Warner played college basketball at Jacksonville in the early 2000s and currently plays professionally in the Philippines. Hall, a 7-footer, played at Albright College and has spent time playing in Hungary.

Anthony McDonald (17 points) and Cory Bradford (11 points) were each in double figures. McDonald was responsible for five of the United States' seven makes from three-point range.

Keijuro Matsui led the way for Japan with 20 points, hitting a game-high six three pointers. Daiki Tanaka added 18 points, as only two Japanese players were in double figures. Eleven players for Japan wound up with points, but its offense was consistently unsuccessful, shooting well below 40 percent and stalling out at various points.

Japan led 25-13 after the first quarter but managed 30 points total in the second and third, allowing the United States to build an insurmountable lead. Looking for its first William Jones Cup championship since 2006, the U.S. will have a chance to make a mark Monday when it takes on Chinese Taipei.

Philippines 77, Chinese Taipei A 69

No Andray Blatche, no problem for the Philippines. Terrence Bill Romeo, Jayson William and Calvin Abueva each scored in double figures as the Philippines sent fans home frustrated with a 77-69 win over Chinese Taipei.

Romeo led the way with 18 points and added four steals. William (16 points) struggled mightily from three-point range (1-of-8) but had four rebounds, four assists and four steals for a solid all-around evening. Abueva was the only Philippines player who made at least half of his three-pointers on his way to 15 points.

The Philippines were left to play without Blatche as he deals with the loss of his uncle. He is expected to return to the team at some point in the tournament. 

"Anybody who lost a close relative, and his uncle is close to him (Blatche), knows how tough it is," Gilas coach Tab Baldwin told Alder Alrmo of PhilStar.com.

Dominant for most of the game, the Philippines nearly blew the game in an ugly third-quarter effort. Gilas managed only seven points in the quarter, allowing Chinese Taipei to come back from a 16-point halftime deficit to tie the score.

Shih Chen and Quincy Davis each scored a team-high 12 points for the home team. Wen Tseng and Lei Tien were also in double figures with 11 points. Chinese Taipei is now 1-3 overall in the tournament, including a 1-1 mark for the A squad. Monday's game with the USA will go a long way toward determining whether the hosts will have any shot of making noise in the tournament.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter