The defending champions handled the pressure with better composure and eked out a 77-75 win against a doughty fellow West Asian nation Jordan to book their second successive entry into the title round.
The win – which extended Iran’s run in the championship to 8-0 – put the West Asian powerhouse as the first FIBA Asia team to book their ticket to the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey.
“Our aim here is to win the gold medal,” said Iran coach Veselin Matic.
“Qualifying (for the FIBA World Championship) is important, but it’s more important to retain the title,” Matic added.
“So we will come out even harder on Sunday,” the Serbian said.
Jordan coach Mario Palma said, “I think we lost the initiative in the first half.”
“After that it was all uphill. Against a team like Iran you don’t win that easily,” he added.
Samad Nikkhah Bahrami led the scoring for the game with 23 points, but the two he scored with about seven seconds left were most significant.
And whenever Jordan fought back, Hamed Afagh was at hand to regain control for Iran.
Afagh had an incredible 5/7 record in three pointers for his 18 points.
Hamed Hadadi scored only five points, but stood tall and solid in defense collecting 12 rebounds – most importantly 11 of them in defense.
Rasheim Wright was Jordan’s highest scorer with 17 points, 11 of them scored in the first half.
Sam Daghles, who scored nine points in Jordan’s third quarter gallantry, had fifteen points.
Zaid Abbas’ double-double – 11 points and a game-high 17 points – went in a losing cause.
China beat Lebanon 72-68 in another semi-final match. Iran will play China in the final round.
MH/MRK
END
MNA
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