The Philippines Team Gilas finished second place, taking home the silver medals in the championship match versus Iran at the 27th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship.
Philippines scored 71, while Iran won by a 14-point margin at a score of 85.
Gilas was undermanned in their last game, Marcus Douthit was not able to play because of an injury where the team was left without a legitimate center to contain the seven-foot two center Hamed Hadadi.
Hadadi is the main man of Iran where he scored 29 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks, who is also named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the tournament.
Meanwhile, for the Philippine team, Jason William finished with a team-high of 18 points, becoming as one of the mythical five in this year’s FIBA Asia Men’s Championship.
Also in the mythical five are Korea’s young guard Kim Mingoo, Chinese-Taipei’s Lin Chi-Chieh, Iran’s Sahakian and Hadadi.
Both Iran and Philippines have now qualified to the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain. Joining them is Korea who took home the gold medals for the Asia cup.
The Philippines, are returning to the world stage for the first time since 1973.
The scores:
IRAN 85 – Hadadi 29, Bahrami 19, Kamrany 15, Sahakian 12, Afagh 4, Kardoust 2, Sohrabnejad 2, Davoudichegani 2, Arghavan 0
GILAS PILIPINAS 71 – Castro 18, Alapag 13, De Ocampo 9, Tenorio 8, Chan 7, Aguilar 4, Pingris 3, Fonacier 3, David 2
Quarter-scoring: 17-15, 35-34, 62-53, 85-71
