FIBA U16 Asia Cup:
Iran beaten by New Zealand, misses out on last four
Iranian boys’ run at the FIBA U16 Asia Cup came to an end in the quarterfinals after a 92-69 loss to New Zealand in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Friday.
Noah Duncan’s 15 points, coupled with 10 rebounds, led the scoring chart for New Zealand, which saw five of its 10 players on the court, finish in double figures.
The result took New Zealand to its fourth successive entry into the medal rounds and also secured a place for the country at next year’s FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey.
Alireza Rashid had a consolation game-high 23 points for Iran, who now have to be content aiming for a better finish than the sixth place they achieved in Qatar two years ago.
Iran began its campaign with an 87-43 win against Saudi Arabia and then cruised past Kazakhstan (90-41) before suffering a 86-67 loss to Japan to finish runner-up in Group D and progress to the knockout playoffs, where Iran routed Malaysia 102-62 to head into the quarterfinals.