MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas escaped a fourth quarter rampage by Iran for an 84-83 triumph in the 19th Asian Games men’s basketball quarterfinals on Tuesday afternoon at the ZJU Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.
Leading by as much as 21 points in the third quarter, Gilas Pilipinas were stunned by a furious fourth quarter rally by Iran to take an 83-82 advantage on a conversion by Navid Rezaeifar.
Justin Brownlee stepped up for Gilas Pilipinas. He drained a pull up jumper from close range to regain an 84-83 lead with 44 seconds left before they put on a tight defense to escape with a win.
Brownlee led the way for the Philippine men’s basketball team with 36 points, while June Mar Fajardo and Earl Scottie Thompson contributed 18 and 11 markers, respectively.
Mohammadsina Vahedi top-scored for the Iranians with 24 points. Rezaeifar added 14 markers, while Meisam Mirzaeitalarpos and Matin Aghajanpour ended up with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Tim Cone-mentored Gilas Pilipinas will return to action at 8 p.m. tonight for their semifinals game against China, which scored a lopsided 84-70 victory against Republic of Korea.
Gilas Pilipinas women, on the other hand, bowed out of the Asian Games women’s basketball after suffering a 93-71 defeat to Republic of Korea in the knockout quarterfinals round.
Meanwhile, Filipina weightlifter Elreen Ann Ando salvaged a bronze medal finish in the women’s 64-kilogram category on Monday evening at the Xiaoshan Sports Center Gymnasium.
The Cebu City native finished the competition with a total of 222 kilograms after finishing with 96 kilograms in the snatch and 126 kilograms in the clean and jerk categories.
North Korea’s Rim Unsim captured the gold with her 251-kilogram lift (111 kilograms in snatch and 140 kilograms in clean and jerk), while China’s Pei Xinyi ended with silver with 234 kilograms (104 kilograms in snatch and 130 kilograms in clean and jerk).
Ando’s bronze medal finish made up for the subpar performance of Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, who ended up at fourth place in the women’s 59-kilogram category./PN
BOX SCORE:
PHILIPPINES 84 — Brownlee 36, Fajardo 18, Thompson 11, Oftana 7, Perez 6, Kouame 4, Newsome 2, Tolentino 0, Alas 0, Aguilar 0.
IRAN 83 — Vahedi 24, Rezaeifar 14, Mirzaeitalarpos 12, Aghajanpour 11, Girgoerian 8, Mashayeki 6, Kazemi 6, Pazirofteh 2, Shahrian 0, Gholizadeh 0, Torabi 0.
Quarterscores: 28-22, 48-36, 71-54, 84-83.
