Gremlins live in my 5 Speed!!! (or something's wrong with it)

My Izzuzu 5 speed does the oddest thing. I can upshift just fine, but when I want to downshift from 5th or 4th into 3rd, it will not shift unless I move the shifter all the way over and just lightly up or down (as if I was going to 1st or 2nd) then move it back over and up into 3rd. I can downshift into any gear (even from 5th to 2nd @ 60mph) except 3rd without any trouble. It doesn't seem like a bad syncro since it upshifts ok, and when I replaced a broken shifter cable I adjusted the cable lash acording to a Haynes manual. I'm begining to think the manual was possibly wrong becuase it said to adjust the lash while in first, and the alignment holes lined up a lot better in neutral. If anyone has any ideas please share.

:uhoh:

check your shifter itself, mine did the same thing and the cable braket was cracked and bent