2013 FIBA Asia Men’s Championships Roundup: Final Day

The 2013 FIBA Asia Men’s Championships at the ultra-modern Mall of Asia Arena closed yesterday with the completion of the Asian representatives to the 2014 FIBA World Cup and the crowning of a new Asian champion. South Korea flustered Taiwan in the battle for third place and, consequently, booked the third and last ticket to Spain. Afterwards, Iran recaptured the championship it held from 2007-2009 by outlasting the Philippines in a hotly-contested affair.

June Mar Fajardo played a lot of minutes in
Gilas's championship defeat.

In the first game of the day, with Kazakshtan plagued by injuries before and throughout the contest, Jordan took advantage and ended its campaign on a bright note by winning, 88-59. Mahmoud Abdeen, playing the starting PG role in place of Wesam Al Sous, who was rested for the contest, hit 4 triples to finish with 20 points in just 15 minutes. Hani Al Faraj and Jimmy Baxter backed him up with 15 and 12 markers respectively. Coach Vangelis Alexandris distributed the playing time relatively evenly tonight with Al Sous and the much-improved Mohammad Hadrab sitting out. Kazakhstan missed the services of wingmen Rustam Murzagaliev and Konstantin Dvirnyy, while big man Anton Ponomarev limped out early in the game after spraining his ankle. Rustam Yargaliev led the Snow Leopards with 17 markers. Jordan takes 7th place, while Kazakhstan sinks to 8th spot.

Rustam Yargaliev shoots over the Jordanian D.

Mohammed Shaher Hussein tries a stick-back.

The second game of the day featured a level of physicality unexpected in a battle for fifth place. The highlight of this match was Mohammed Yousef landing hard on his back in the fourth period and then kicking Guo Ailun in the head afterwards. Perhaps because they fell behind by double-digits in the second half, the Qataris just resorted to roughhousing tactics the rest of the way instead of staging any serious rally. In the absence of Jarvis Hayes, Mansour El Hadary and Baker Mohammed led Qatar with 23 and 22 points respectively. The victors were paced by the 21 points of youngster Guo Ailun, while veterans Wang Shipeng and Wang Zhizhi combined for 27 markers. Zhizhi also added 11 rebounds in what was probably his farewell FIBA Asia game. China finishes 5th, while Qatar is 6th.

Wang Zhizhi probably played in his last FIBA Asia game
yesterday afternoon.

Guo Ailun represents a bright future for
Chinese hoops.

The third game saw how the Taeguk Warriors booked the third and last Asian slot to the 2014 FIBA World Cup after defeating the Taiwanese, 75-57. Korea showed no signs of weariness after last night's painful semifinal loss to Gilas Pilipinas, going on a quick start to put some separation between them and the gritty Taipei five. After that first big spurt, the Koreans just played keep-away till the end. Once again, Kim Min-Goo, that 22-year old collegiate standout, impressed with 21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 triples to lead coach Yoo Jae-Hak's wards. He was ably supported by the combined 23 markers of Cho Sung-Min and Kim Joo-Sung. On the other end, Taiwan's losing effort was spearheaded by the duo of Lu Cheng-Ju and Quincy Davis. Lu finished with 13 markers, while Davis dropped a dozen points and 8 boards. After winning its first five games of the tournament, Taiwan has gone on to lose three of its last four.

Tien Lei goes down the gut of the defense.

Kim Min-Goo was, once again, splendid for Korea.

In the whole competition’s final game, the dream ended for Gilas Pilipinas, but it wasn't exactly a nightmarish end. Yes, the home team lost to a superb Iran squad, 85-71, in the titular match of the 27th FIBA Asia Men's Championship, but even that couldn't dampen the joyful spirit of the Filipinos, who already managed to nab one of the 2014 FIBA World Cup berths a night earlier. The game was tight for the most part, with Iran's offensive juggernaut repeatedly stifled by the stingy Filipino defense. Still, Iran's quality (and size) proved to be the big (pun intended) difference, with Hamed Haddadi asserting himself more in the second half. Couple that with the fact that Gilas's bigs -- Japeth Aguilar and Ranidel De Ocampo -- were in foul trouble throughout the game, and things really didn't look good for the home team, who were already without starting center Marcus Douthit. Still, the Gilas boys' hearts shone through despite the defeat, and the appreciative Mall of Asia Arena crowd (est. at 19,989 paying customers) took notice, clapping and yelling for them till the end. As victors, Iran nets the gold medal for the third time in the last four editions of the tournament (they placed fifth in 2011). They were led by the frontline duo of Haddadi and Oshin Sahakian, who combined for 41 points and 28 rebounds. Samad Nikkhah Bahrami and Mahdi Kamrani also did well, dropping 19 and 15 markers respectively. Meanwhile, Gilas was paced by Jayson Castro's 18 markers, while Talk N Text teammate Jimmy Alapag contributed 13 points off the bench.

Jayson Castro splits the Iranian defense.

Oshin Sahakian rises for an easy two.

Samad Nikkhah played nearly the entire
championship game for Iran.

THE TOP THREE (3) TEAMS – Iran, the Philippines, and South Korea – all get slots in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.

It is also still possible that FIBA will select and invite a fourth Asian team as a “wildcard,” but the chances of that happening are very slim.

The Mythical Five: Jayson Castro (PHL), Kim Min-Goo (KOR),
Lin Chih-Chieh (TPE), Oshin Sahakian (IRI), and Hamed Haddadi (IRI).

Off to Spain - Team South Korea a.k.a. the Taeguk Warriors.

Off to Spain - Team Philippines a.k.a. Gilas Pilipinas.

Off to Spain - Team Iran a.k.a. Team Melli.

2013 FIBA Asia Men’s Championship Final Ranking

Champions: IRAN

Silver: Philippines

Bronze: South Korea

4^th: Taiwan

5^th: China

6^th: Qatar

7^th: Jordan

8^th: Kazakhstan

9^th: Japan

10^th: Hong Kong

11^th: India

12^th: Bahrain

13^th: Saudi Arabia

14^th: Thailand

15^th: Malaysia

BOX SCORES:

JORDAN over KAZAKHSTAN, 88-59

CHN 79 - Wang ZZ 33, Yi 18, Zhou 13, Wang ZL 8, Wang S 6, Zhu 1, Liu 0, Guo 0, Sun 0

JOR 76 - Al Sous 17, Baxter 13, Hadrab 13, Al Faraj 7, Hussein 7, Al Hamarsheh 6, Abdeen 5, Zaghab 5, Abu Ruqayah 2, Al Dwairi 1, Al Najjar 0

QS: 18-12, 32-27, 55-52, 79-76

CHINA over QATAR, 96-85

CHN 96 - Guo 21, Wang S 14, Wang ZZ 13, Yi 12, Zhu 10, Wang ZL 9, Zhou 8, Zhang 4, Sun 3, Liu 2

QAT 85 - El Hadary 23, Mohammed 22, Yousef 13, Abdulrahman 13, Daoud 5, Abdullah Ma 3, Abdi 2, Ali 2, Abdullah Mo 2

QS: 20-21, 45-41, 70-56, 96-85

SOUTH KOREA over TAIWAN, 75-57

KOR 75 - Kim MG 21, Kim JS 12, Cho 11, Yang 9, Yoon 9, Kim TS 7, Kim JK 4, Lee JH 2, Lee SJ 0

TPE 57 - Lu 13, Davis 12, Tien 8, Tseng 7, Hung 6, Chen 6, Tsai 3, Yang 2, Lin 0

QS: 29-13, 50-29, 61-44, 75-57

IRAN over PHILIPPINES, 85-71

IRI 85 - Haddadi 29, Bahrami 19, Kamrani 15, Sahakian 12, Afagh 4, Davoudi 2, Sohrabnejad 2, Kardoust 2, Arghavan 0

PHL 71 - Castro 18, Alapag 13, De Ocampo 9, Tenorio 8, Chan 7, Aguilar 4, Norwood 3, Fonacier 3, Pingris 3, David 2, Fajardo 1

QS: 17-15, 35-34, 62-53, 85-71

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