Iran remains unscathed; Jordan overwhelms HK

IF he can help it, Iran coach Mehmed Becirovic won’t be gambling with his bench-warmers again in the knockout stages of the Fiba Asia Championship.

The two-time Asian champions encountered agonizing moments near the end of the first half before Becirovic brought back his starters who went on to complete a 75-56 rout of Bahrain yesterday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Way ahead after the opening quarter, the Iranians saw their 17-point lead vanish as second-stringers Javad Davari, Saman Veisi and Mohammad Jamshidijafarabadi groped for the basket while allowing the Bahrainis to score on uncontested shots.

After a 23-6 start, Iran settled for 30-27 lead at halftime.

“We can’t afford to play like that,” said Becirovic. “In this tournament, you should never underestimate the opponent.

“This should not happen again in the knockout stages,” added Becirovic, who served as the national coach of Slovenia in the 2010 Fiba World Championship in Turkey.

NBA veteran Hamed Hadadi and fellow starters Samad Bahrami, Oshin Sahakian, Hamed Afagh and playmaker Mahdi Kamrani returned to action after the intermission to finish the job for the Iranians, who are virtually assured of the No. 1 seeding in Group F going into the quarterfinals.

Iran (4-0) goes for a sweep of its Group F assignments against Kazakhstan today.

In the first game, Jordan kept its quarterfinal hopes alive with an 80-54 thrashing of Hong Kong.

High-energy forward Mohammad Hadrab had 21 points and guard Mahmoud Abdeen pumped in 13 for the Jordanians, who notched their first win in the second round for a 1-3 record.

They will tackle Japan, also at 1-3 after a 79-76 loss to Chinese Taipei, at the end of the second round today with the winner clinching the fourth and last quarterfinal slot in Group E.

Hong Kong, out of the quarterfinal picture at 0-4, concludes its stint against Gilas.

China hardly felt the absence of Yi Jianlian as it dumped India, 79-45, for a second straight victory in the second round.

The 2011 Asian champions improved to 2-2 and seemed headed to the quarterfinals.  Seven-footer Wang Zhelin scored 18 points and swingman Guo Allun added 16 for the Chinese, who put up a 25-point cushion in the first half.