INQUIRER Sports

SANCHONG, TAIPEI COUNTY— As Powerade-Pilipinas found out Sunday afternoon, the Great Wall to scale in the Fiba-Asia is not China.

Equipped with adequate skills to complement its overwhelming advantage in size, Iran dealt the Filipinos a severe drubbing, 85-60, and ended Team RP’s learning experience at the 31st William Jones Cup at the Hsinchuang Stadium here.

The Iranians treated their final game as a title match and never gave the Filipinos any breathing room with 7-foot-3 center Hamad Ehadadi finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds and Hamed Afagh hitting 4-of-5 three-point shots to highlight the rout.

Ehadadi, the former Memphis Grizzly in the NBA, was an immovable object underneath. He played just 24 minutes, while Afagh saw action for 20 as he was slowly broken back in from an ankle injury.

And to make things worse, Iran belongs in the group which RP will play after the first round of the Fiba Asia World Championship qualifying in Tianjin, China.

“We have no solution to the size that they have over us,” admitted coach Yeng Guiao. “We shot the ball badly and we didn’t play our best defense. We had to shoot well from the outside today and we couldn’t do that.”

Only Sonny Thoss and Cyrus Baguio scored in twin digits against the Iranian defense that was tough up high and toughest underneath.

The Filipinos were never in it after trailing by 13 at the end of the first period and by 28 at the half.

The Philippines finished sixth in this nine-team, eight-nation event with a 2-6 card, even as Iran eagerly awaited the results of the games at press time to know if it will win the title with a 6-2 card.

In Tianjin, the Filipinos—who belong in Group A with Japan, Korea and Sri Lanka—will join qualifiers from Group B in the second round. Group B has Iran, Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan and Kuwait.

Fiba Asia format will have each country playing members of its group once, with the top three to advance to the second round carrying their win-loss records. The other bracket will have Groups C and D qualifiers joining in the second round.

“Iran is really a tough team, but we have a legitimate chance against the other two (qualifiers in the next round), which we assume to be Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan,” Guiao said.

The team flies back home Monday and will have just one day of rest before resuming its cramming for the Fiba Asia. The Nationals depart for Beijing on Aug. 4.

The scores:
IRAN 85—Ehadadi 19, Bahrami 18, Afagh 14, Tadjik 11, Kamrany 9, Sahakian 6, Amini 3, Davoudi 2, Davarpanah 2, Akbari 1, Doraghi 0.

POWERADE-RP 60—Thoss 13, Baguio 12, Santos 9, Aguilar 7, Dillinger 5, De Ocampo 4, Raymundo 3, Miller 3, Norwood 2, Taulava 2.
Quarters: 25-12, 51-23, 74-43, 85-60