The scoreboard should actually read 88-84 because RR Garcia’s layup was clearly a victim of a goaltending violation and his jumpshot from deep right after getting the rebound was clearly a 3-pointer as a thousand witnesses attest.   But that’s not important anymore. What matters are the quiet nods of affirmation from players of Korea and Japan as their eyes met with our boys’ who walked with heads held high out of the Azadi Stadium here in Tehran. What matters are the congratulations of the Lebanese team as they met with the RP boys near the entrance. “That, boys… said Fitness Coach Dan Rose, is called… RESPECT.”    Earlier, a 26-head Filipino crowd gathered at the bleachers section providing moral support for their embattled team. But their voices were drowned out by the hoots and horns of the Iranian throng. Come game time, a different Nokia-Pilipinas Youth Basketball team stepped onto the court. Determination was written on their faces. Seemingly deaf to the thundering cheers of the thousand-strong home audience, they buckled down to business did what they do best – Basketball at its most exciting level. The coaching staff was quick to notice that after only one minute of play, the scoreboard indicated that # 15 Gabriel Banal already had one foul to his credit – even if

he hasn’t set foot on the court yet. That glitch was corrected.

 The 1^st quarter battle was furious. It ended at 15-19 Iran up by 4. The 2^nd quarter saw our first deadlock at 19-19. The intensity was so high, so physical that the audience fell silent when #12 Hasanza’s elbow found Norbert Torres’ lip and sent him down on the floor writhing in pain. He suffered a cut on his upper lip but as soon as Doc Jimbo (Rp team’s PT) stopped the bleeding and gave him a “go” he was back on the court managing the affairs under the basket and keeping the hosts from breaking away. At the end of the canto, the score remained level 35-all. It was in the 3^rd quarter that the Filipino pack first tasted the lead at 47-43 with 5:33 left in the period courtesy of Matthew Wright’s “showtime-layup” that went in and drew a foul. Act 3 ended in yet another cliffhanger scene 49-49.

 The 4^th quarter was a fitting finale. Down by 10 points 54-64 with 7 minutes of play left, The RP Youth were like wolves onto the smell of blood. They stalked their Iranian prey relentlessly exchanging baskets, running the fastbreaks, and when the opportunity to strike came up, RR Garcia hit two consecutive 3 pointers and Mark de Guzman converted on his own steal to bring the Philippines breathtakingly close 62-64 with 2:01 seconds remaining.

De Guzman stole the scene again by hitting a 3-pointer and hussling on the inbound to effect a steal and a no-look assist to Matt Wright who finished it off with a layup 76-79. Frank Golla also came to town with a power drive that drew a foul. He converted both freethrows to bring Iran’s lead down to 1 point 81-82 with 29 seconds remaining. This is where we pick up the scene described at our article’s start. After Garcia’s phenomenal shots, a foul was called on Iran’s # 9 Jamshidi as he pulled on Marata’s shirt at inbound with 6 seconds left. Garcia went to the line to take the penalty shots but Iran protested and demanded that Marata should be the one. Marata sank both freethrows hitting “nothing but net” amidst the ear-shattering roar of the Iranian crowd. “We’ve regained the respect of the other countries here” said a jubilant Franz Pumaren. “Too bad we couldn’t be consistent in our level of play… But in hindsight, this (win) shows that we could have done better in this tournament. Iran might eventually win the championship. I’m so proud of these boys who did not languish in their earlier defeats but really came prepared for this game.” 

Quarter Scores:

1^st Qtr. Philippines: 15 Iran: 19  

2^nd Qtr. Philippines: 35  Iran: 35 

3^rd Qtr. Philippines: 52 Iran: 57 

4^th Qtr. Philippines: 85 Iran: 84     

Individual Scores:Philippines

Garcia          19

Mendoza       9

Torres          7

Wright         13

Marata         4

Sangalang    2

Tolentino      4

Paredes        1

Golla           11

De Guzman   8

Banal           7

Total:          85 

Iran

Falahat           6

Honarmand     2

Shirjang          17

Kazemi           2

Jamshidi         6

Amjad            10

Hasanzadeh    17

Derboghosian   5

Farman           19

Total              84