Iran wins gold medal game to end Philippine dream run

Too tall, too big and too good.
That’s what Iran was against Gilas Pilipinas on Sunday night as the mighty Iranians waylaid the Filipinos in the second half to post an 85-71 victory and claim the 27th Fiba-Asia Championship gold medal before close to 20,000 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
With Hamed Hadadi throwing his weight around in the paint and Nikka Bahrami unstoppable, the Iranians broke free from a tight first half with several spurts in the third quarter to pound out the win.
No amount of cheers for the Filipinos and jeers for the Iranians by the capacity crowd that included Philippine President Noy-Noy Aquino and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao could deter Iran from scoring the annihilation.
Iran thus went undefeated in nine total games, but last night was the first time that it was truly pushed, even if the Filipinos were without naturalized 6-foot-10 center Marcus Douthit for the game.
Hadadi finished with 29 points and 16 rebounds in what could turn out to be a showcase tournament for him for National Basketball Association scouts. He later on won the Most Valuable Player award.
Iran won the Asian championship for the third time in the last four editions, missing out only in 2011 in Wuhan, China, when Jordan posted a mammoth upset in the quarterfinals.
“They were very motivated,” Iranian coach Mehmed Berocivic told reporters after he and his crew received their gold medals and had their national anthem played for the second time in the night.
“They were so motivated (to being Asian champions again) that I had all my players in training camp right from Day 1,” added Berocivic, who bared that he had cut one player who opted to come late to camp to seek his luck in the NBA.
“I like to have all of my players there, because every time we play, we are always one of the favorites and Asia and every team wants to beat us.”
But no one did in this tournament, even after the Iranians found themselves trailing a team for the first time in a third quarter.
Jason Castro hit two free throws in the Philippines’ first possession in the second half for a 36-35 lead, before the Iranians put on the heat and assembled run after run for several double-digit bubbles that eventually had them taking a 62-53 lead going into the fourth period.
The Iranians would later silence the huge crowd with leads that went to as large as 17 in the fourth, as the closest the Philippines could get to was within 63-74 after a Gary David short stab.
But Bahrami drew an unsportsmanlike foul from David on the other end, made both free throws and fed Hadadi for a two-handed dunk in the possession that followed as the Iranians snuffed the last of the Filipinos’ breath with still 2:58 to go because of a 78-63 lead.
Bahrami finished with 19 points in the first game that he truly pushed himself, mocking the defenses thrown at him by Gabe Norwood and all the others.
Meanwhile, South Korea won the bronze medal and bagged the third and last ticket to the World Championship staked in this 15-nation event after ripping Chinese-Taipei apart, 75-57, behind 21 points from young gunner Kim Ming-goo.
The loss was a painful one for the Taiwanese, who had scored a first in this tournament by turning back an A-Team from China for the first time in their long basketball history.
That means that Chinese-Taipei’s wait to get back to the world stage will have to wait another five years, with the next World Championship after next year’s in Spain to be held in 2018.
Chinese-Taipei last played in the world event in 1959 and has never won a medal there.
Incidentally, Korea will also make its return to the world stage for the first time in 18 years, and the third place finish is a truly special one, according to 33-year-old veteran Kim Joo-sung.
“We will use this because our basketball is not so famous back home anymore,” the 6-foot-11 Kim, who played in the last Korean squad in the World Championship, told reporters.
“In the past years, basketball has not been so popular back in our country,” Kim said through a team interpreter. “But with this win, basketball will be popular again in our country.”
“Unfortunately, it ended the way it did,” Philippine team coach Chot Reyes, his silver medal hanging from his neck, told a packed interview session after the awarding. “But if somebody told me last month that we would win this silver medal, we would be ecstatic.
“We would have wanted to come up with the gold, but without Marcus, it was very, very difficult,” he added. “With superior size, with great players and great coaching, it was very hard for us to fight at this level without our big guy.”
Douthit’s right shin injury was aggravated in an 86-79 win over South Korea in the Final Four on Saturday. He showed up suited for the game but was the biggest cheerleader on the bench for the Filipinos.
Castro went on to lead the Filipinos with 18 points and was named as the point guard in the Mythical Team. Chinese-Taipei’s Lin Chih-chieh and Kim Ming-goo were named to the forward spots with Oshin Sahakian, who had 12 points, awarded the power forward’s spot.
Mahdi Kamrany, a talent equal to Castro, had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in another brilliant all-around effort.

Jimmy Alapag had 13 markers and was the only other Filipino in twin digits.