China loses to Iran at FIBA Asia Championship

Defending champions China lost their second match at the 27th Asian basketball championships - 70-51 to Iran here on Saturday, but still qualified to the second round.

Hamed Haddadi scored nine of his game-high 15 points in the second quarter to hand Iran a 17-point lead by halftime. When China cut the lead to 13 points after the third quarter, Haddadi scored two field goals and one free-throw to help Iran pull away again.

Iran grabbed 35 rebounds, including 16 offensive rebounds, while China had only 29. Haddadi and Oshin Sahakian snatched seven rebounds apiece.

Wang Shipeng led China with 11 points and was the only Chinese player who reached double-digit in scoring. He made all his three three-pointer attempts in the first quarter but missed five thereafter.

Samad NIkkhah Bahrain also had 10 points and eight assists for Iran, who topped Group C with three wins.

South Korea finished second ahead of China, whose only victory came in Friday's match against Malaysia.