Pinoys outsmart Iranians, notch third win

SINGAPORE – The Philippines knocked down Iran with a much-improved shooting and solid teamwork, fashioning out a 28-19 victory to move within a win of clinching ninth place in the 3-on-3 basketball competitions of the first Youth Olympic Games at the Scape Youth Space court here yesterday.

Everything they did right against Central African Republic Saturday they did again versus the Iranians with the Filipinos adding the three-point shooting to their arsenal to blast their taller, heftier rivals and stay on course for a best finish after they were unceremoniously booted out of the quarterfinal race.

The RP cagers actually needed one big run in the first of two five-minute periods to scuttle the Iranians, scoring 11 unanswered points and spending the rest of the contest outfoxing their rivals in rebound plays while knocking down threes to keep them at bay.

“We beat Iran because of teamwork and our strategy of blocking all their offensive rebound attempts. Also we did all the 3-point shooting and we gave Iran a panic attack,” said RP chief of mission Mark Joseph.

Bobby Ray Parks hit two triples while Cris Tolomia and Michael Pate had one each as Team RP finally hit its stride from beyond the arc after a long struggle in the elims that virtually cost the Pinoys a spot in the quarters.

The 6-5 Parks carried the scoring load again for the team, finishing with 10 points while Tolomia continued to provide solid backing coming off the bench, coming up with nine points after adding seven in RP’s 22-13 rout of CAF.

Pate wound up with five points while Jeron Teng added four for Team RP which posted its third straight win after dropping its first three games in the elims.

“Basketball is doing real good, it’s on a winning streak,” said Joseph. “I think like all our sports, we are at the top competitively but lack exposure.”

He added: “We need more training camps and competition outside Southeast Asia. They were a bit nervous at the start (of the campaign) since they are still young.”

The Pinoy dribblers go for ninth place today as they play a tough squad in Puerto Rico, which edged Turkey, 30-28, in the other consolation round match. Meanwhile, Serbia routed Lithuania with an impeccable shooting, posting a 33-22 romp to set up an interesting semifinal duel with the United States, which clobbered Spain, 28-18.

Greece, on the other hand, nipped Argentina, 25-24, in a down-to-the-wire contest to arrange the other semis clash with Croatia, which held off Israel, 24-21.

Meanwhile, Croatia outlasted Greece, 33-30, in a classic semifinal match that went into three overtimes as the Group D topnotcher arranged a title showdown with Serbia, which nipped the fancied United States, 34-29, also in overtime.

The Croatians, who closed out with an 8-0 run to the Filipinos in crucial elims showdown early in the week, forced the extension at 23 after the two five-minute periods then battled the Greeks to two more two-minute extra periods at 26 and 30 before pulling the win.

The Serbians, on the other hand, imposed their will after the regulation that ended at 27-all with Sasa Avramoic and Mark Radonjic combining to lift the former to the big victory.

Croatia, which held off Israel, 24-21, in the quarters, and Serbia, which routed Lithuania, 33-22, dispute the title at 4:30 p.m. today.