Like Seville all over again: Gutsy Gilas loses thriller to Iran

INCHEON, Korea – The pain in Spain was the wounds in Incheon.

Gilas Pilipinas fed on its heart and fighting spirit and brought the mighty Iran to the final two minutes of their showdown, but like its heartbreaks in Seville, the Nationals faded in the end, dropping a 63-68 setback in the Asian Games here yesterday.

The Filipinos held on to a seven-point lead going into the last five minutes as they battled the Iranians mano-a-mano until the Asian champs seized the initiative in the last two minutes to shatter a 63-all count and the Gilas 5 succumbed to the bitter loss and left its roaring fans heartbroken at the Hwaseong basketball gym.

The sorry setback brought to mind the near-misses the Nationals had in four matches in the recent World Cup in Seville, Spain.

Nik Khabahahrami scored two charities off a foul by Marc Pingris with 1:26 left in the game and sank another off Pingris’ fifth foul to make it 66-63 with time down to 22.3 seconds.

Coach Chot Reyes called a timeout to make one last shot to tie the game but Marcus Douthit misfired from top of the key.

NBA star Hamed Ehdadi made a towering rebound and was fouled, going to the foul line with 2.2 seconds left to score the last two gift shots for the final count.

“Marcus was not supposed to make the shot but the Iranians guarded the scorers and let him get the ball. We were sufficiently trained for this kind of situation but he was the open man and had no recourse but to take the three-point shot,” said Reyes.

“We had a bad start, we caught up with them until Douthit had four fouls and Iran made a comeback,” said Reyes, who added that JunMar Fajardo, whom he sent in for the foul-troubled Douthit in the early minutes of the fourth quarter could not do the job against the seven-foot center Ehdadi.

“If he (Douthit) was in the game we could have put the game away,” he added.

Iran established a 13-point lead in the first quarter and used it as a cushion to whip up the victory in a close, tough and very physical game that saw both teams accusing each other of rough play and later slamming the referees for putting the game in chaos.

“They call us for flopping but they don’t call the other. We lost on technical fouls on Fajardo and (so-called) unsportsmanlike behavior on Marc Pingris,” rued Reyes.

Khabahahrami, who joined Iran coach Mehemed Becirovic of Slovenia, insisted it was the Filipinos who played dirty.

“The game is physical, the game should be played at the highest level like in the World Cup. They have been pushing and grabbing. The officiating must not be something like this. If they want this kind of officiating, they must do so right from the start so the players can adjust,” he said.

“I’m not happy with the dirty play but I’m still happy with the win,” he added.

The victory, hacked out in front of cheering Filipino fans who occupied almost the entire seating area of the Hwaseong basketball gym, gave Iran its second straight in Group B and sent it to Group I along with China, Mongolia and Japan.

The Philippines, at second in the three-team group, is in Group 2 with Kazakhstan, Korea and Qatar.