MANILA, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines mens' national basketball team suffered a heartbreaking loss in their last home game of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers to Iran, 70-78, at MOA Arena here on Monday night.
The visitors' Mohammad Jamshidi stepped up in the absence of Hamed Haddadi and Samad Bahrami, compiling game-high 26 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
The Philippines, dubbed as "Gilas", took the lead at the first three quarters while the experienced Iranians came back in last six minutes with a blistering 15-2 spurt powered by Jamshidi's 12 points to take a come back lead, finally leaving the hosts winless in their two home games since last week.
"I felt a lack of maturity on our team. But our guys played their best," said the hosts' head coach Yeng Guiao, adding that they made some bad decisions at the crucial point of the game.
After the duel, Gilas currently slips down to the fourth place in Group F with five wins and five losses, while the Iranians sustain the second slot with 7-3.
According to the rules, the best fourth-place team in the two remaining groups, E and F, in the Asian qualifiers will join the top three teams in each group in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.
That means the Filipinos needs to sweep next two matches - both away contests - to remain the chance for a World Cup berth.
There are only two round games left in the tournament. Next up for the Filippinos is Qatar, whom they face on February 21 next year.
