GILAS Pilipinas clinched an Asiad semifinals slot for the first time in 21 long and dreary years yesterday — by the skin of its teeth against gritty Iran.
Averting a huge meltdown from a 21-point spread (62-41), the Filipinos eked out a nail-biting 84-83 decision in the knockout quarterfinals duel to advance to the semifinals of the 19th Asian Games basketball event at the Zhegiang University Zijingang Gym in Hangzhou, China.
Naturalized player Justin Brownlee emerged as the savior for the Filipinos as he drove to the baseline, lost his defender with a lucky non-call off a little ward off, and canned a clutch floater that pegged the final count in the last 44.0.
Before that, Iran, behind Matin Aghajanpour, Mohammandsina Vehedi and Navid Razaeifar razed a 62-41 Gilas lead and seized the lead twice at 81-80 and 83-82.
On both occasions, Gilas rose to the challenge and regained the lead — on a putback by June Mar Fajardo (82-81) and Brownlee’s shot (84-83), with 41 seconds remaining.
Everything came down to an open three-point shot by Aghajanpour near the Gilas bench with 17 seconds to go. He missed.
The Iranians failed to foul the rest of the way as Gilas milked the clock en route to the hard-earned triumph.
Coach Tim Cone was a foot or two away from the Iranian shooter when he launched the three that would have broken the hearts of Gilas fans.
“I was literally almost right behind him so I could see the trajectory, it was going left,” Cone said. “When he released it, I knew it was a miss. It was just a matter of ‘Can we get the rebound?’ We did, and they chased us around but couldn’t get a foul off us.”
Cone said losing the 21-point lead was not exactly a shocker.
“In the international game, things can turn on a dime, and this did in the fourth quarter,” he said. “Luckily, we had a big lead. We should have never put ourselves in that position, but that’s the way this kind of games are.”
Brownlee led Gilas with 36 points but was held to the game-winning basket in the fourth quarter by a box-and-one defense thrown by the Iranians that stifled his movement through most of the second half.
“I think we did a good job in the first three quarters. But when they threw a wrench into our plans with that box-and-one, we just kinda struggled,” said Cone. “I think the Iranian coach did a great job bringing his team back.”
Gilas advanced against China, which routed South Korea 84-70 in the other quarterfinals matchup that somehow didn’t live up to expectations at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center.
Gilas faces China today at 8 p.m. at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center.
Nobody is thinking bronze at the moment, least of all Cone, who is aching for payback against preliminary round tormentor Jordan, a rematch that could only materialize if both teams make it to the finals.
Gilas is one step away, with Jordan beating Saudi Arabia handily at press time. Up next for the Jordanians are either Japan or Chinese Taipei in the semis.
