By REY C. LACHICA
HANGZHOU, China – Justin Brownlee was held to just two points in the payoff period but that difficult basket with only 44 seconds was enough to bail Gilas Pilipinas out of danger in a wild and enthralling contest with long time rival Iran.
And embarrassment, too.
Huffing and puffing after playing for almost 37 minutes – not to mention the push and hard fouls he received – the 35-year-old Brownlee scored the winning basket after barreling his way through heavy traffic to lift Gilas to a nail-biting 84-83 win over a stubborn Iranian side on Tuesday, Oct. 3, in the 19th Asian Games here.
Just like his past heroics with crowd-favorite Ginebra San Miguel in the PBA, Brownlee credited the team’s never-say-die spirit in warding off Iran’s blazing comeback from a 17-point deficit entering the final 10 minutes of play.
“Just never-say die,” said the smiling Brownlee. “Just want to keep the fight, the NSD spirit. In the Philippines, the NSD spirit means a lot.”
Yes, even inside the Zhejiang University Zijingang Gymnasium as the Nationals survived a hail of three-point shots from Mohammadsina Vahedi.
“Just want to keep showing the spirit every time we were tied, we were down and we just want to continue fighting,” said Brownlee, who finished with 36 points on a respectable 12-of-21 shooting.
He also had eight rebounds, four assists and two steals — most of them came in the first three quarters of the game where Gilas even took a commanding 62-41 advantage late in the third frame.
The 6-foot-5 Brownlee, who normed 18.8 points in the team’s first four games, was at his best in the first period that saw his scatter 16 points spiked by three booming triples.
It was a thrilling finish that Gilas coach Tim Cone said they were lucky to pull off the win which will pit them against the mighty Chinese squad in the semis on Wednesday.
“Luckily, we had the lead this time, big lead and they came out with all the threes again in the fourth quarter,” said Cone, still looking “red” after the team’s harrowing experience.
The Chinese also advanced to the semis with an 84-70 win over the South Koreans.
Gilas, for its part, finally got a shot at possibly ending a 25-year medal drought in the Asiad men’s basketball after Cone and his centennial team won bronze in the 1998. The Nationals are also in search for its very first gold since in the quadrennial meet since 1962.
After a hard and determined chase, the Iranians took the lead at 83-82 on a tough basket by Navid Rezaeifar with a little over a minute left that had majority of the home fans erupting in sheer joy.
After a Brownlee basket, the Iranians had one last chance to turn the game in their favor but Matin Aghajanpour missed the potential game-winning three with 10 seconds remaining.
Cone knew it was not going in as the Iranian launched the missile in front of him.
“I was just hoping that we get the rebound,” said Cone.
And Gilas did – thanks to Calvin Oftana who grabbed the biggest of his three rebounds of the game.
The Iranians highlighted their smoldering comeback with a 16-4 run to start off the fourth period. They buried three triples in that onslaught, making the game more interesting.
After Oftana’s rebound, the Nationals wisely dribbled the remaining time away to preserve win to the delight of the Filipino supporters, including Sen. Bong Go.
June Mar Fajardo held his ground against the hulking Meisan M. to contribute 18 points while Scottie Thompson, in his best game so far, added 11.
Despite scoring only seven and two points, respectively, Oftana and Chris Newsome played solid defensively.
Vahedi, small but deadly, proved to be the biggest thorn for Gilas as he exploded late to finish with 24 points, including four triples.
The scores:
PH 84 – Brownlee 36, Fajardo18, Thompson 11, Oftana 7, Perez 6, Kouame 4, Newsome 2, Alas 0, Aguilar 0, Tolentino 0.
Iran 83 – Vahedi 24, Rezaeifar 14, Meisam 12, Aghajanpour 11, Girgooria 8, Kazemi 6, Pazirofteh 2, Gholizadeh 0.
