The Japanese national basketball team gave its fans plenty of reasons to smile Saturday afternoon.
Reason No. 1: Japan closed out the Kirin Cup with a 72-62 victory over Iran at the National Yoyogi Stadium Second Gymnasium.
Reason No. 2: Japan earned the victory by doing the little things right -- balanced scoring (five players had seven or more points), hustling (four players had one or more blocked shots) and unselfish play (eight had one or more assists).
And you can't forget the biggest reason of all: Japan shot a sizzling 53.5 percent (16 of 30) from the field and 7 of 16 from 3-point range.
"We lost the game yesterday and it was a pity for us," Japan coach Zeljko Pavlicevic said of Friday's loss to Iran.
"(But) . . . today, we tried to gain momentum with defense because against Iran we couldn't give them more than 70 points."
It worked. Iran was 3-for-19 on long-range shots, 18-for-42 from the field and 17-for-25 at the line.
Tomoo Amino led all players with 27 points. Iran's Saman Veisi had 23.
Japan snatched a 5-0 lead, starting with two Takehiko Orimo free throws, and never trailed.
Takuya Kawamura drilled back-to-back 3s during a 17-5 spurt that made it 47-37 with 4:48 left in the third.
Orimo was named the series MVP.