Iran, Qatar advance to semis

As expected, Sabah Battery-Iran and Al Rayyan-Qatar drove past their respective opponents yesterday and safely made it to the semifinals of the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Iran, the top-seeded team in Group A, defeated Sheriff Army-Syria, 76-65, while Qatar, the top-seeded team in Group B, got a big scare before escaping with an 89-82 win over Tobol-Kazahkstan.

In today’s cross-over semis, Iran will face either Kuwait or Segasse-Lebanon while Qatar goes up against either San Miguel Beer-Philippines or Fastling-Jordan. Lebanon is the reigning champion.

Both Iran and Qatar are unbeaten after five games each.

Iranian coach Mehran Shahinta did not field his American import, Andre Pitts, to save his energy for the tougher games ahead. The latter’s absence, however, was hardly felt in the game as Ahmed Afaghe Eslamiah and Aydin Nekkhah Bahrami delivered.

Eslamiah and Bahrami ignited a crucial second-quarter attack for Iran, helping turn a 13-16 deficit into a 41-31 lead at the half. They went on to score 15 points apiece in the game that was played before a lot of empty seats.

Qatar relied on the hot shooting hands of former NBA player Todd Fitzgerald Day who was too hard to stop with his 24 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals in 35 minutes of action.

A veteran of nine seasons in the NBA, the 6-foot-6 Day did most of the damage in the second half. His three-pointer with 90 seconds left gave his team an 88-78 lead and finally broke the backs of their opponents.

Coached by an American in James Angeli, Qatar drew superb performances from Erfan Ali Saeed with 23 points and 10 rebounds, Pervis Lee Pasco with 14 and Saad Abdulrahman Ali with a dozen points.