James Yap, the most famous of the Filipinos here, did not disappoint a big Philippine crowd of mostly overseas workers, as he banged in 18 points to lead the Nationals to their third win in six starts in the 10-team tournament.
Yap, who was silent in all of the Nationals’ three losses, shook Iran’s tall foundation with his rainbow shots as the Filipinos proved they can win against teams in their bracket, the "Group of Death," in the coming FIBA-Asia Championship in Tokushima, Japan, the Olympic qualifier.
It was a big lift for the Filipinos who bowed to the Jordanians, 70-74, the other day. Jordan and China are the other squads in the Filipinos’ group in the FIBA-Asia Championship.
"I asked them to show me the real thing, and they gave me a real win," National coach Chot Reyes said.
"Coming into this game, I told them to treat this match as if we were playing in Tokushima already. They responded well."
The Philippines now shares fourth spot with Iran and Lebanon, while Jordan remained on top with a 5-1 card, followed by defending champion Athletes in Action of the USA (4-2) and Qatar (3-2), which was still playing Taiwan at presstime.
The Philippines had some shaky moments at the start and even trailed Iran until early in the second quarter before Yap unloaded 11 points, punctuated by a trey, to turn things around for the Philippines, which took the half, 51-46.
The Philippines never looked back from there although Iran tried its best to counter each and every shot the Filipinos would throw its way.
The Iranians last threatened at 54-55 on successive baskets by Aidin Nikkah Bahrami but Kelly Williams was there, turning garbage into golds, including a slam on a putback of a Mark Caguioa miss.
The Nationals coasted along from there while the Iranians complained and grumbled at everything which the Filipinos took as an early sign of surrender.
The Nationals used the fourth quarter to show-off, with Yap connecting on two more treys, and Jimmy Alapag, Gabriel Norwood and Caguioa coming through with one each.
Meanwhile, Jordan creamed Lebanon, 72-68, to stay on top with its fifth win in six games.
The Lebanese, conquerors of the Philippines, 65-62, last Tuesday, dropped to 3-3.
The Athletes in Action trounced Kazakhstan, 92-68, to improve its slate to four triumphs in six games while dropping its victim to 1-5, the only positive light in its slate coming from a 96-61 rout of Japan last Tuesday.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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