Jordan takes on Iran in Asia Cup

AMMAN — Jordan’s national basketball team plays Iran on Wednesday in the quarter-finals of the FIBA Asia Cup, currently under way in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Jordan scored a dramatic half court buzzer-beater three pointer to beat Chinese Taipei 97-96 and move to the quarters. After they led for most of the game to as much as 11 points, Chinese Taipei were up by 9 points with just under one minute left at 91-82 and 95-91 with 9 second left. However, Jordan did not give up as, Freddy Ibrahim had his best day scoring 9 of his 19 points, including the game-winning buzzer-beater to eliminate Chinese Taipei and move to quarter-finals against Asian giants Iran, which beat Japan 88-76, overpowered Kazakhstan 96-60 and beat Syria 80-67.

Ibrahim’s shot will certainly go down in Jordan’s basketball memory, but should not certainly overshadow the gigantic effort from Dar Tucker, who scored 36 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Teammate Ahmad Al Dweiri had an impressive game with 20 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks.

“We didn’t give up. We were down by eight in the final minute, but we didn’t give up.” — Wisam Al Sous, Jordan head coach was quoted by FIBA Asia. “We believed in ourselves and players gave it their all. We beat our opponents at what they did best — a three pointer,” Sous, a star of the 2010 World Cup qualifying squad, added after the coach came under heavy fire from observers and fans for the team’s performance in World Cup qualifiers last month. 

In Round 1, Group A matches, Jordan lost 78-60 to titleholders Australia, before beating hosts Indonesia 74-65 and Saudi Arabia 74-64. The event, rescheduled from last year, saw China beat Indonesia 108-58 to move to the quarters against Lebanon. New Zealand beat Syria 97-58 on Tuesday advancing to play Korea in the quarters while Japan rolled over the Philippines 102-81 progressing to play titleholders Australia.

Teams eliminated so far, were Indonesia and Saudi Arabia Group A, Chinese Taipei and Bahrain from Group B, Kazakhstan from Group C and India from Group D.

It is Jordan’s 16th time at the FIBA Asia Cup with the Kingdoms best performance at the event, previously called FIBA Asia Championship, placing third in 2009 and runner-up in 2011 when it reached the final for the first time in the country’s history, but lost the chance of qualifying to the 2012 Olympic Games after losing the final 70-69 to China. Jordan then played the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) but lost to Puerto Rico and Greece and was eliminated.

Last month, Jordan played Window 3 of Asian qualifiers for FIBA’s 2023 World Cup, losing 89-70 to Lebanon in an under par performance before they beat Indonesia 77-52. After national sides played home and away games across three windows, Jordan finished second after Lebanon in Group C after they beat Saudi 68-61 and lost 72-64 in Window 1. In Window 2, Jordan beat Lebanon 74-63 and Indonesia 94-64.

Twelve teams advanced to Round 2, which will also have three windows running up to February 2023. Jordan will now play Round 2, joining New Zealand, Lebanon, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and India in Group E, while Group F includes Australia, Kazakhstan, China, Iran, Japan and Bahrain. The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will take place from August 25 to September 10, 2023 with seven nations from Asia and Oceania qualifying for the 32 country field. As event hosts, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines automatically qualify. 

Jordan reached the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2010 and 2019, becoming the first and only Jordanian team to actually reach a World Cup in a team sport alongside the junior men’s team in 1995.

The tournament serves as a qualifier for the 2024 Summer Olympics, where the top two teams from each of the Americas and Europe, and the top team from each of Africa, Asia and Oceania, will qualify alongside the tournament’s host France.