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China stuns Asian champion Iran in basketball friendly

Xinhua, July 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chinese Olympic team of men's basketball beat their arch-rival Iran 68-64 here on Monday in a friendly match at the 2015 Internationl Basketball Challenge.

Four Chinese players scored in double-digit. Guo Ailun led China with a match-high 16 points, six of which came in the final quarter. He also finished with three assists and three steals but still had seven turnovers.

China outscored Iran 19-15 in the first quarter. The Iranian only made in two field-goals and scored nine points at the free-throwing line.

But the reigning Asian champion fought back in the second quarter. Mohammad Hassanzadeh score five points in a row to help Iran closing the first half at 31-30.

Heng Yifeng had a good third quarter. He took nine of his 14 points in that single quarter. Heng's free-throw at six minutes and 11 seconds to the end of the quarter tied the score at 36-36 and China never trailed from then.

Heng hit a three-pointer to open the final quarter for the host. Tao Hanlin took the chance of Hamed Haddadi's absence and ruled Iran's paint zone. He finished with 15 points and five rebounds and made in a final minute lay-up to seize the victory for China.

"Haddadi didn't play much time in the final quarter, which gave me chance as we have advantage in height," said Tao Hanlin.

"To me, it is only a normal game. It's not the Asian Championships and beating Iran doesn't mean too much. I think Iran will have a better performance in the Asian CHmapionships." said Tao.

Oshin Sahakian led Iran with 12 points. Haddadi had nine points from 17 minutes. Mehdi Kamrani scored only six but dished out eight assists.

"Chinese team deserve the win. They hit big shots at the end and we didn't," said German Dirk Bauermann, coach of Iran team. "But I also have to give my team a lot of credit. We worked very hard for eight days in the training camp. We came here yesterday and we were low and tired. But they still gave all they had."

When asked of their target in the Asian Championsho, which will be held in Changsha in September and October, Bauermann confirmed that Iran would only fight for defending the title.

"The goal is clear -- to qualify for Rio, which means we have to win the Asian Championships. That's two months from now. You will see a completely different team then," said Bauermann. Endi