Iran regained the FIBA Asia U18 Championship in Style

Iran had won this title previously in the 2004 edition at Bangalore. Kazakhstan were playing their maiden final.

Both Iran and Kazakhstan had already qualified for the FIBA U19 World Championship for Men in New Zealand next year.

Kazakhstan managed to remain abreast of the hosts till the closing moments of the first quarter, but back-to-back baskets from Mehdi Shirjang and Ramin Honarmand - the latter a colossal attempt from the center-line - took Iran 25-19 ahead at the end of the first quarter.

Shirjang went on to sink four more three-pointers in five attempts in the second quarter as Iran raced away 35-24 midway through the quarter, which they consolidated to 48-31 before Farbod Farman closed the quarter with a dunk.

Iran led 59-37 ahead going into the changing rooms and never looked back.

Shirjang finished with a game-high 24 points, off eight three-pointers in 12 attempts.

Farman was a darling of the crowd with five dunks for his 18 points.

Mohammed Hasanzadeh had only 10 points, but pulled down a staggering 12 rebounds to stand tall in Iran defense.

Iran won the battle of boards 44-38.

"The boys rose to the occasion," Raicevic said.

"There are so many things that can go wrong in a championship game. I'm glad nothing of that sort happened to us," he said.

Talking about the game, Raicevic said, "Our shooting came good. Especially our three-pointers. That eased the pressure on the inside play."

Iran had a 14/28 (50%) success rate from behind the arc as compared to Kazakhstan's 4/16 (25%).

That scoring advantage compensated for a below par shooting otherwise. Kazakhstan shot 23/43 (53%) in two-pointers as against Iran's 24/58 (41%).

Alexander Tyutyunik, Anton Arsenyev and Artyom Skornyakov shared the scoring honors for Kazakhstan with 18 points each. Skornyakov also collected 10 boards.

"They were on a roll," said Kazakhstan coach Vadim Buryakov.

"Also I think the boys crumbled under the pressure of the crowd," he added.

"Overall I am satisfied with the silver medal. We came here for a top-3 finish. In that way we have done better than our expectations," Buryakov added.

"Now our preparations start for the World Championship," he said.

Scores

Iran 95 (Mehdi Shirjang 24, Farbod Farman 18, Ramin Honarmand 12, Mohammad Amjad 11) bt Kazakhstan 76 (Alexander Tyutyunik 18, Anton Arsenyev 18, Artyom Skornyakov 18, Obirzak Akhmet 11). Quarterwise Scores: 25-19, 59-37, 81-58.

FINAL PLACINGS

1. Iran
2. Kazakhstan
3. Syria
4. Japan
5. China
6. Korea
7. Philippines
8. Lebanon
9. Chinese Taipei
10. Jordan
11. Saudi Arabia
12. Hong Kong
13. India
14. UAE
15. Malaysia