Men's Basketball: AIA Wraps Up Play
July 10, 2007 03:06 PM | General
July 10, 2007
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Athletes in Action, based in the United States, concluded play in the 2007 William R. Jones Cup with a 91-74 loss to Iran here Wednesday.
The U.S. completed the tournament with a 5-4 record and finished tied for third place. Jordan took home the championship trophy with a tournament record of 7-2.
"It's hard to come [meet with the media] after your team lost," said coach Mike Jarvis. "However, it's not as difficult when you know that you're team played hard and tried their best. Our team did that. We're not ashamed, we're very glad we came and hope to have a chance to win the Jones Cup again."
Cliff Hammonds (Cairo, Ga./Clemson) led AIA with a tournament-high 20 points. Todd Hendley (Boone, N.C./UNC Wilmington) also scored a tournament-high 18 points, while Reed Rawlings (Chattanooga, Tenn.) came off the bench to score 13 points and grab nine rebounds.
"It was a great experience for us; coming here and play against international competition," Hammonds said. "Our main goal was to come and glorify God and I think we did that on and off the court.
"We played as hard as we could. Coming down the stretch we just didn't have any legs left. We haven't played in real game since the end of the college season, so nine games in nine days took its toll on our bodies and I think it showed a lot tonight."
Five players scored in double figures for Iran led by Nikkhah Bahrami with 25.
For a second consecutive night, the accuracy of its opponent's 3-point shooting was the difference. Iran made 14-of-28 (50 percent) of its attempts, while AIA connected on just 9-of-29 (34 percent).
The U.S. won the battle of the boards, 41-39, but was unable to overcome a sub par shooting night, making just 39 percent of its field goal attempts. Iran connected on almost 46 percent of its shots.
Rawlings helped AIA get out to an 18-10 lead in the first five minutes and Hendley assisted in maintaining that lead with eight first quarter points as the Americans held a 29-22 advantage after one quarter.
The second quarter belonged to Hammonds. After Darris Nichols (Radford, Va./West Virginia) opened the scoring with a free throw, Hammonds scored AIA's next 10 points, out-scoring Iran 10-4 by himself to open a 14-point lead.
Iran countered with an 11-0 spurt to pull within three, 42-39, before Hammonds, who tallied 12 point in the quarter, ended the run with a driving lay-up to push the lead to five, which was the U.S. lead at halftime, 46-41.
Iran opened the second half with a 10-2 run to take the lead away from the U.S. less than three minutes into the half. Zach Gibson (Grand Blanc, Mich./Michigan) scored the opening basket of the half before Iran scored 10 unanswered.
After three consecutive 3s from the Iranians, the U.S. faced a seven-point deficit which was cut to three at the end of the quarter as Tim Pollitz (Ottawa, Ohio/Miami Univeristy), Hendley and Hammonds all scored to conclude the period.
Iran continued to use its inside-outside balance to extend its lead at the start of the fourth, out-scoring the U.S. 10-2 in the first two minutes for an 11-point lead. Iran raised its lead to 13 with 2:54 remaining on its third 3 of the quarter.
AIA cut the lead to seven, but didn't get any closer as the veteran Iranians answered every U.S. threat.
"We came here for a bigger purpose," said Rawlings. "We love basketball and we wanted to come here and perform well. We also wanted to come and experience the culture and share God's love with the people of Taiwan and the other teams that are here."
