After absorbing 2 losses in the elimination round of the 2011 William Jones Cup, Iran surprised everybody by changing their style of playing in the semi-finals and in the finals en route to winning the Jones Cup 2011 Title at the expense of South Korea last night. The final score was 66-59 in favor of Iran.
The offensive and defensive story of this championship game was dominated by the 7-footer of Iran, Hamed Haddadi. No one from the team of South Korea was able to stop the behemoth of Iran right from the first quarter up to the fourth quarter of this game. He just ate the defense of South Korea's 7'2 center, Ha, like he was popping in popcorn while he was watching his favorite movie. All in all he had 35 points, 18 rebounds and 7 blocks which came mostly from the shots of Ha. Haddadi has just given his team its 4th Jones Cup Title.
With Haddadi patrolling in the shaded lane, South Korea's inside scoring was shut down. Ha and Oh Seh Kyun struggled in their inside scoring and because of that, Iran was able to hold them down to just below 50 points at the end of the first half. In the second half South Korea banked on TJ Moon's outside shooting. Moon delivered but sadly, his efforts were not enough to overhaul Iran's huge lead in the fourth quarter. He had 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists but unfortunately their campaign ended into a defeat.
In the battle for 3rd place, Smart Gilas Pilipinas was able to beat the home team Taiwan en route to grabbing the third place in the 2011 Jones Cup. Gilas was able to improve on their 4th place finish last year that's why Coach Toromoan was a bit happy. They cannot afford to have this kind of finish in the 2011 FIBA Asia Championships which will happen 31 days from now.
The scores:
Iran: Hamed Haddadi 35+18 boards, Oshin Sahakian 13, Javad Davari 7
South Korea: Kim Joo-Sung 19, TJ Moon (Stevenson Cameron) 15
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