Amritpal and Amjyot had together contributed 21 of the 30 points scored by the Indians in the first half.
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In their opening match at the tournament, Iran defeated japan 86-48, with superirity in all four quarters. Keijuro Matsui was great for Japan, finishing with 25 points and 4 boards while Malaysia, now 0-2, received 7 points and 6 boars from Lok Seng Mak.
H. Afagh hit the first three-pointer of the match which opened the floodgates as India were put on the backfoot.
The third and fourth quarters too were closely fought, with Iran outscoring India by single digits in each of these 10-minute sessions.
Two key factors turned the match in Iran’s favour.
ONGC forward Yadwinder Singh was on top of his game in the early stages of the match and this along with some excellent team play helped the team to get a 29-19 lead after the first quarter.
The second was the fouling out of India’s primary centre Amritpal Singh just before half-time.
Hamed Haddadi of Iran throws down a jam against India. Ahmad Ibrahim was one of the standout performers in the second quarter for Lebanon as he managed to score 11 points.
But Chinese Taipei refused to give in, launching a comeback through their veteran point guard Lin Chih-Chieh who penetrated easily through the Lebanese lines to tie the game with less than three minutes remaining.
India will play their final Group A match against Japan on Friday.
Despite sporadic fightbacks, India went down to Asian champions Iran 66-88 in a preliminary round game of the 26th FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha, China, on Thursday.
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In addition to Ibrahim, who netted 23 points, Youngblood and Haidar added 18 points each, while Arakji added 14 points and Abdelnour chipped in 12 points with seven rebounds, and was decisive with an offensive rebound late in the game.
