Asia powerhouse Iran survived a last-minute surge-up of Philippines to hang onto a 75- 69 victory in the 2007 Asia men's basketball Championship which opened on Saturday.
Nikkhah Mohammad scored 25 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Iran team to score last six points of the game when the time was running up. Davari Javad added 14 points and Nekkhah Aidin 12.
Iran led 30-25 into the second half but Philippines launched a strong come-back in the fourth quarter to narrow the gap into 59- 52 in 35th minute.
With 24 seconds left in the match, Iran struggled to hold on to the razor edge 71-69 lead, but Moosa Nabipoor produced a slam dunk for Iran and effectively sealed the issue in his side's favor.
Philippines tried to level the game with three-point, but there was no enough time for them and they suffer the first defeat 75-69.
Raymundo Kerby had 15 points for Philippines and Alapag Jim had 12.
Early on Saturday, the host Japan whitewashed United Arab Emigrates 109-66 in a group B match and South Korea beat Hong Kong, China, 107-67.
There are 16 teams, which divided into four group of four teams, participating in the tournament. The winner of the Asian Championship will book a berth for the 2008 Olympics which will be held in Beijing.
Source: Xinhua
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