By Diego de la Paz
CUBAO, Philippines (Eagle News) – The Philippines men’s national team survived a huge scare from Iran in the endgame before pulling off an 81-70 result in its final tuneup game on Wednesday night in front of a raucous crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The team affectionately known by many as Gilas blew a once 23 point lead in the second half on a 20-5 start by Iran in the fourth period, before recovering late in the match to hack out the close win.
Andray Blatche fired 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the nationals to their sendoff win. Terrence Romeo, Ryan Reyes, and Japeth Aguilar added 12 apiece, while Bobby Ray Parks finished with 11 points.
Head Coach Tab Baldwin, who admitted that the squad still falls short in cohesion, said that the team learned a huge lesson in throwing away the lead.
“It’s was good for us to have that situation, rather than a 20 point blowout where we didn’t learn anything,” said Baldwin.
The American mentor said that the team played well enough as a unit, which made it hard for the coaching staff to decide on the members that will comprise the next batch that survives the cut.
Behnam Yakhchali topped the Iran five with 16 points, while Oshin Sahakian added 13 points with six rebounds for Iran in a losing cause.
Aguilar waxed hot early, going on a perfect streak of four field goals made en route to 10 points in the first quarter alone to lead a hot 29-15 start for the Gilas Pilipinas contingent.
In the second, the Iranians went on an 11-0 tear led by the trio of Hassanzadeh Mohammed, Sahakian, and Yakhchali midway through the second to cut down the once 20-point deficit to just nine, 43-34, at the 3:12 mark of the period.
THE SCORES
PHILIPPINES 81 – Blatche 20, Romeo 12, Aguilar 12, Reyes 12, Parks 11, de Ocampo 4, William 3, Fajardo 3, Tenorio 2, Pingris 2
I.R. IRAN 70 – Yakhchali 16, Sahakian 13, Mohammad 9, Zangeneh 8, Jamshidi 8, Arghavan 5, Farid 4, Kardoust 4, Mashayekhi 3, Dalirzaham 0
QUARTERS: 29-15, 48-38, 67-50, 81-70
