Iran mangles Gilas PH, books finals berth

RANIDEL de Ocampo (right) and the Gilas Pilipinas squad fail to follow up their quarterfinal victory over India. FIBAASIA.NET

Outsized, outran and outgunned, Gilas Pilipinas was totally outclassed by an Iran crew that kept its title defense alive via a 76-55 rout Friday in the Fiba Asia Cup at Wuhan Gym in Wuhan, China.

Mohammad Jamshidi anchored Iran’s humming offense in the first half while Behnam Yakhchalidehkordi clustered 10 points late in the third as the defending champions advanced to the championship match against the winner of the China-Chinese Taipei semifinal joust that was still being played at presstime.

Gilas Pilipinas dropped its first game in the tournament and settled for the playoff for third place.

Jamshidi had 14 points in the first half alone, helping Iran take a 39-28 lead at the half.

The Filipinos tried to claw their way back in the third, but Yakhchalidehkordi scored 10 straight points, including two free throws that made it 55-35, with 1:49 remaining.

Gary David tried to fire up Gilas PH, bunching five straight points in less than five seconds, but Iran found an answer immediately. Yakhchalidehkordi nailed a triple to beat the third-quarter clock to put Iran ahead, 61-40.

Early foul trouble

Gilas PH ran into trouble barely three minutes into the match when Marcus Douthit committed his second foul on a needless reach-in at the backcourt.

Douthit had to sit out the rest of the half, forcing the Filipinos to put extra effort into defending Iran’s Hamed Hadadi. That allowed Iran’s guards to freely shred the Gilas defense with cuts to the basket that resulted in easy points.

Iran also dominated the boards, 43-34, for an 8-0 edge in fastbreak points. Iran also had more assists, 14-7, with a lot of those passes coming from big men at the high post locating cutting guards.

Jamshidi finished with 19 points and five rebounds while Yakhchalidehkordi added 18 and six boards for Iran, which got 11 points, five rebounds and five assists from Hadadi, the former member of the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA.

LA Tenorio, Gary David and Ranidel de Ocampo had 11 points each for Gilas, but perennial topscorer Paul Lee managed only four points for the Philippines, which made just three of 21 attempts from beyond the arc.

Iran, on the other hand, had seven triples out of 20 tries. The Iranians also made 15 of 22 attempts from the stripe while the Filipinos, who did not have a free throw until the 6:02 mark of the third period, made eight of 10 tries.

The scores:

IRAN 76—Jamshidi 19, Yakhchalidehkordi 18, Hadadi 11, Mashayeki 10, Sahakian 7, Zangeneh 5, Lalehzadeh 3, Arghavan 2, Kazemi Naeini 1, Veisi 0, Akbari 0, Kardoust 0.

GILAS PILIPINAS 55—David 11, Tenorio 11, De Ocampo 11, Douthit 6, Washington 5, Aguilar 4, Lee 4, Dillinger 3, Alas 0, Belga 0, Fajardo 0, Lanete 0.

Quarters:20-13, 39-28, 61-44, 76-55