J
Jeanh
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Gilas Pilipinas suffered its second defeat at the 2015 William Jones Cup after bowing to a more consistent Iranian team at the Xinchuang Gymnasium in Taiwan Thursday.
Iran’s star player Hamed Haddadi dominated once again to steer his team past the Philippine squad, 74-65. The Iranian big man finished with 22 points.
It was a tough loss for Gilas, which was able to engage the Iranians in a tight ball game early on. But a minor confrontation between Moala Tautuaa and Haddadi disrupted Gilas’s rhythm, allowing the Iranians to take a 17-14 lead.
The gap widened to 23-16 midway of the second quarter. Fortunately, Jason Castro and Terrence Romeo came up with a series of floaters and shots from the perimeter to cut the deficit, 19-23.
Gilas was already closing in, but back-to-back triples by Iran kept the nationals behind 31-34 by the end of the first half.
Haddadi again dominated the paint while his comrades H. Afagh and M. Kamrani kept firing from the outside to push Iran further ahead, 54-42.
Calvin Abueva and Romeo tried to stop the bleeding and cut the deficit to 47-54.
The nationals mounted a run in the payoff period as JC Intal knocked down a series of triples that pulled Gilas to 61-65 with 3:41 minutes to go.
Iran, however, was able to weather the charge, hold off the Filipinos and secure the win.
Asi Taulava top-scored Gilas with 12 points to go with eight rebounds. Castro and Intal each had 10 points.
Iran’s star player Hamed Haddadi dominated once again to steer his team past the Philippine squad, 74-65. The Iranian big man finished with 22 points.
It was a tough loss for Gilas, which was able to engage the Iranians in a tight ball game early on. But a minor confrontation between Moala Tautuaa and Haddadi disrupted Gilas’s rhythm, allowing the Iranians to take a 17-14 lead.
The gap widened to 23-16 midway of the second quarter. Fortunately, Jason Castro and Terrence Romeo came up with a series of floaters and shots from the perimeter to cut the deficit, 19-23.
Gilas was already closing in, but back-to-back triples by Iran kept the nationals behind 31-34 by the end of the first half.
Haddadi again dominated the paint while his comrades H. Afagh and M. Kamrani kept firing from the outside to push Iran further ahead, 54-42.
Calvin Abueva and Romeo tried to stop the bleeding and cut the deficit to 47-54.
The nationals mounted a run in the payoff period as JC Intal knocked down a series of triples that pulled Gilas to 61-65 with 3:41 minutes to go.
Iran, however, was able to weather the charge, hold off the Filipinos and secure the win.
Asi Taulava top-scored Gilas with 12 points to go with eight rebounds. Castro and Intal each had 10 points.