SoKor falls to fatigue, loses steam vs Iran

MANILA, Philippines – South Korea was ripe for another upset win but fell short against the bigger Iranian national team succumbing to a 65-76 loss in the preliminary round of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship at the MOA Arena in Pasay city Friday night.

After a morale-boosting upset 63-59 win against Asian powerhouse China in their opening assignment yesterday, the Koreans seemed on its way to a second straight win when they led Iran, 34-30, after the first half until fatigue finally caught up with them.

“In first half we really played good but in the second half we got tired and could not really play the way we wanted to” said Cho Sung Min, who paced the Koreans with 15 markers while matching up with Iranian star Samad Nikkhah Bahrami on the defensive end.

SoKor coach Jae Hak Yoo agreed with the sentiment of Cho when asked if his players got tired in the end, nodding quickly without turning to the interpreter.

Korea played poorly in the second half as they were limited to a paltry seven-point output in the crucial third quarter.

Iran took a 51-41 lead entering the payoff period, dominating the rest of the way.  The closest Korea got was within nine points but the Middle Eastern team had an answer to every Korean rally.

“Iran was very aggressive and we were not prepared for that because there were a lot of contacts but we did what we have to do,” said Cho, after several shoving and shouting incidents throughout the game.

Hammed Haddadi and Bahrami combined for 53 points and 20 boards as Korea helplessly watched the duo dominate on all fronts. Korea tried different variations of zone defense and even applied full court pressure but had no answer for the superb duo of the 2007 and 2009 FIBA Champions.