Croatia secured the third placing at the preliminary round by beating Iran 91-57 on Monday at the Olympic men's basketball tournament.

Croatia (3-2) will face Spain, which finished second in the other group, in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Marin Rozic and Marko Tomas contributed 16 points each and Nikola Prkacin scored 15 for Croatia.

Croatia beat the winless Iran in the second quarter by 35-8 to lead 54-16 on the break for an unsinkable advantage.

Mohammad Nikkhah led Iran (0-5) with 25 points, while Hamed Ehadadi adding 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Croatia forced Australia down to the fourth placing in the Group A no matter what results come out of a following match between Australia and group leaders Lithuania.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2008)