Gallant Gilas falls to Iran as dream of gold ends

(Updated 10:26pm) Without its main big man, the Philippine national basketball team was outmatched in the paint and fell to Iran, 85-71, ending up with silver in the finals of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, Sunday at the MOA Arena.

Injured naturalized center Marcus Douthit did not play, allowing Iran's behemoth center Hamed Haddadi to dominate down low.

On the other end of the court, Gilas' feared shooters did not bring their A-game, and missed open jumpers throughout the contest.

[Related: Castro earns mythical five nod, Haddadi crowned MVP]

The home team struggled to contain NBA free agent Haddadi, who was later named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. He scored 29 points and hauled in 16 rebounds over 29 minutes, despite four fouls to his name.

"We were overmatched from the start," Gilas coach Chot Reyes admitted after the game. Despite his sentiments though, the team still kept it close for much of the match, and Iran did not steamroll over them, the way they did against nearly every other team they faced in the tournament.
 
“Unfortunately it ended the way it did,” Reyes added. “In the end without Marcus it was just too difficult. If we had our big guy, we could have given them a better fight.  I'm very very proud of the players.”

Iran finished the tourney with an undefeated 9-0 record.

Even with a healthy Douthit, Gilas would have been heavy underdogs. But the home team made up with feistiness what it lacked in size.

They kept it close for more than a half, with Larry Fonacier ending the first half with a triple that trimmed Iran's lead to one point. That gave the raucous crowd that included both President Aquino and Vice President Binay strong reason to start seeing gold.

See-saw first half

Samad Nikkah Bahrami opened the game with a long two, while Gilas had multiple good looks at the basket only their shots refused to fall.
 
Two free throws from Jeff Chan at the 7:51 mark of the first finally got the locals on the board, tying the game at 2-all as well.
 
The two teams exchanged 4-0 spurts for another tie at 6-all, but Japeth Aguilar broke the deadlock at the 5:56 mark with a basket over Hamed Haddadi.
 
A triple by Nikkah Bahrami at the 3:20 mark gave Iran an 11-10 lead, and two free throws from Oshin Sahakian extended their lead to three points.
 
A three-point shot from Jayson Castro tied the game anew at 15-all, but a basket from Hamed Sohrabnejad ended the first with Iran holding a 17-15 lead.

“We focused each game on playing better and better on defense,” said tournament MVP Haddadi. “Even if they were missing their center Marcus [Douthit], they played great. The best team we played in the tournament is the Philippines.”
 
Castro and Haddadi exchanged inside baskets to start the second quarter. This was quickly followed by Jimmy Alapag and Mahdi Kamrany trading triples.
 
Hamed Afagh sank a difficult baseline jumper at the 8:16 mark of the second to give Iran a 24-20 lead. Haddadi then added a dunk at the 6:31 mark to extend their lead to six points.
 
The game was halted at that point as the scoreboard malfunctioned. The two teams had to shoot around to stay warm.
 
When play resumed, Haddadi scored again on the low block. LA Tenorio however replied with a three to cut Iran's lead down to five points.
 
Sahakian and Davoudi combined to give Iran a 32-23 lead with 4:24 left in the first half. Ranidel de Ocampo countered with a triple, followed by a free throw from Castro to bring the Iran lead back down to five points.
 
Castro added a high-arching layup over Haddadi, but the big man replied with a three-point play at the 2:45 mark for a 35-29 count in their favor. Undaunted, De Ocampo scored on a floater to cut the lead down to four points. 

Just before the halftime buzzer, Fonacier's exclamation triple ignited the crowd and brought Iran's lead down to a single point, 35-34.  

At the half, Castro led Gilas with 10 points, while De Ocampo added five. Haddadi led Iran with 11 points as he dominated the Philippine interior.
 
At the dawn of the third quarter, Castro began the festivities by making two free throws, 36-35, Gilas up. Haddadi and Nikkah Bahrami however strung together four quick points to give the lead back to Iran.
 
Iran made a killing from the free throw line as Gilas was whistled for their fifth foul with 7:53 still left in the third.
 
A Kamrany put-back gave Iran a 45-36 lead at the 7:03 mark of the third to force a Gilas timeout. Out of the quick break, Castro and Alapag stepped up to score five straight to keep Gilas in the game at 45-41.
 
Iran then went on another run to build a 53-43 lead, before a reverse from Pingris trimmed the difference down to eight points.
 
Nikkah Bahrami made two free throws at the 2:02 mark to answer a triple from Jeff Chan, as Iran led 57-48 at that point.
 
Fonacier sank another trey to cut Iran's lead down to six points, but the referees kept whistling the Gilas players for fouls, awarding free throws to the Iranians.
 
Alapag nailed two free throws to cut Iran's lead down to just six points but Kamrany sank a buzzer-beating trey to give Iran a 62-53 lead heading into the last quarter.

Gilas groped for form to start the fourth. Haddadi made them pay by making a basket down low at the 7:35 mark to extend Iran's lead to 14 at 68-54.
 
Haddadi added a two-handed dunk on the next play, but Tenorio scored on a layup over him to trim the lead back down to 14 points.
 
After another Haddadi basket, Tenorio made a triple to bring the lead down to 13 at 72-59, halfway into the final quarter. Haddadi was then whistled for basket interference to get Gilas within 11, but the 7'2" giant tipped in his own miss to re-establish a 13 point lead.
 
Gary David scored on a wide-open basket, but drew an unsportsmanlike foul at the 3:09 mark. Two free throws from Nikkah Bahrami and a dunk from Haddadi extended Iran's lead to 15 with only 2:57 left in the game.
 
De Ocampo completed a rare four-point play to give Gilas a fighting chance, 78-67, 2:46 left. With their lead down to 11, Iran expertly ran the clock down before setting up a Kamrany layup.
 
The Iranians then closed out the game by sinking their free throws.

“Very good tournament, very good organization, specially because we won,” joked Iran head coach Mehmed Becirovic after the game.

Samad Nikkah Bahrami complemented Haddadi's game with 19 markers and seven assists. Mahdi Kamrany stuffed the stats sheet with 15 points, seven boards and five dimes, while Oshin Sahakian put together a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Iran got by despite only six points from their bench.
 
“Today was the toughest game for us because we knew 20,000 fans were behind the Philippines," Becirovic added. "They [Gilas] kept finding new energy. Congratulations to the Filipino team for qualifying for the World Championship and for the good game tonight.”

“Yung goal namin na-achieve pa rin namin,” Castro said after the match. “Suwerte kami na nakalaban namin ang Iran sa Finals.”

The Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters backcourt of Jimmy Alapag and Jayson Castro combined for 31 points, four triples, and six assists. Ranidel De Ocampo added nine points and six rebounds, while LA Tenorio managed eight points, three boards and three assists.

Iran shot 49 percent from the field for the game, compared to just a 32 percent clip by the hosts. They also had a whopping 51-32 advantage in rebounds, for a 14-2 margin in second-chance points.

Along with Korea, the Philippines and Iran will represent Asia in the 2014 FIBA World Cup, to be held in Spain. - RAF/HS/AMD, GMA News


The scores:

Iran 85 - Haddadi 29, Bahrami 19, Kamrany 15, Sahakian 12, Afagh 4, Davoudichegani 2, Sohrabnejad 2, Kardoust 2, Arghavan 0

Philippines 71 - Castro 18, Alapag 13, De Ocampo 9, Tenorio 8, Chan 7, Aguilar 4, Norwood 3, Pingris 3, Fonacier 3, David 2, Fajardo 1

Quarter scoring: 17-15, 35-34, 62-53, 85-71