By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Gilas Pilipinas survived a fourth quarter uprising by Iran to escape with an 84-83 victory in the 19th Asian Games men’s basketball quarterfinals at the ZJU Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China yesterday.
Leading by as much as 21 points in the third quarter, Gilas Pilipinas was 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 as 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.
On the other hand, Gilas Pilipinas women has bowed out of 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 at the Xiaoshan Sports Center Gymnasium on Monday night, October 2.
The Cebu City-native Ando finished the competition with a total of 222kg, after finishing with 96kg in the snatch and 126kg in the clean and jerk categories.
North Korea’s Rim Unsim captured the gold with her 251-kg lift (111kg in snatch and 140kg in clean and jerk), while China’s Pei Xinyi ended with silver with 234kg (104kg in snatch and 130kg 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 in fourth place in the women’s 59-kg category.
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./ASC, WDJ