Iran took gold with another double-digit win as they overtook the Philippines in the Asia Basketball Championships final 85-71 (discuss).
Led by Hamed Haddadi – the Iranians won each one of their games by more than 10 points — including a 90-point blowout over Malaysia in the preliminary round — finishing with a perfect 9-0 record in the 27th Asia Championships of Basketball.
The Philippines played without their starting center Marcus Douthit for the second straight game, so the 7-2 Haddadi continued his strong interior play unimpeded; dominating the smaller Gilas Pilipinas team with 29 points and 16 rebounds in the title game.
Samad Nikkhah Bahrami scored 19 points and dished 7 assists. Mahdi Kamrany added 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Oshin Sahakian contributed a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
All in all, those four starter scored 75 of Iran’s 85 points.
On the other side, the starting five struggled for the Philippines. Three reserve players led the team in scoring; Jayson Castro scored a team high 18 points, veteran guard Jimmy Alapag added 13, and Ranidel De Ocampo added 9 points off the bench.
The 6-11 Douthit’s 11 points and nearly 10 rebounds were sorely missed against the Iranians. He was injured earlier in the tournament and sat out the last two games.
With 20,000+ raucous fans cheering them on, the President Benigno Aquino III, and boxing superstar and national icon Manny Pacquiao in the stands – the short-handed Gilas took a lead in the first quarter.
They would also take a brief lead early in the third quarter on two free throws from Castro before Iran seized the game with 10 straight points.
With the win, Iran has now won three of the last four Asia Basketball Championships. Haddadi was named MVP of the tournament – his third Asiabasket MVP trophy.
Despite the second place finish, the Philippines is guaranteed a spot in next year’s Basketball World Cup. They join Iran and Korea, who grabbed the final spot with their win over Taiwan in the third place game.
Discuss the tournament results, players, awards in our Asia Championships of Basketball forum.
Iran-Philippines boxscore (FIBA)
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