Unbeaten Iran defeated Jordan 77-75 on a tough drive by Mohammad Samad Bahrami yesterday, advancing to the finals of the Asian Basketball Championships and a chance to defend their title.
Bahrami scored a lay up with 12 seconds left, breaking a 75-75 tie and booking Iran a berth in today’s final against either China or Lebanon, who played later yesterday.
“Today was a great game for us, very important for us, we win the game, but for us, our main mission is winning the championship,” said Iran point guard Mahdi Kamrany, who scored nine points and dished out six assists. “We have a lot of experience in [game-ending situations], we have played together a lot before, so we knew what we should do in the last situation and we did it.”
Bahrami led Iran with 23 points, while sharp shooter Hamed Afagh chipped in 18 points for the winners who jumped out to a 14-point lead in the first half, only to watch Jordan come back behind 17 points from US-born guard Rasheim Wright.
Memphis Grizzlies towering 2.17m center Hamed Ehadadi was held to five points, but had 12 rebounds and blocked three shots while anchoring Iran’s defense.
“We defended Ehadadi better than any team here ... but our problem is we had a very bad first half,” Jordan’s Portuguese coach Mario Palma said. “In the second half we played much better, but in the end we were not lucky, we were less lucky than they were, so they won, they deserved to win.”
With the win Iran books a place in the World Basketball Championships in Turkey next year, while with a win in consolation play today, Jordan can also advance to Turkey with a third place finish.
Taiwan defeated South Korea 70-65 and will face Qatar, who beat the Philippines 83-65, in the fifth/sixth place playoff today.
In other games, Kuwait best the United Arab Emirates 65-61, while Kazakhstan defeated Japan 77-73.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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