Iran vs. Australia 99 - 112 (21095)A clash of the two unbeaten teams in their final Pool C match. Both teams having already qualified to the next stage, this match was left to decide who would take the honours to finish on top. Australia took an early control of the match and held a comfortable 57-43 lead over Iran at the main break. But Iran fought back strongly led by Kavousi
(7652290) and Vahedi
(13636611) in the third and finally went in front with 11 minutes left to play. With the game on the line, working as a team collectively Australia was able to break away as Iran struggled defensively giving up 32 points to 17 in the final 11 minutes of play.
Kavousi as mentioned earlier stood out with an impressive 15-20 FG, dominating with a total of 33 points and 16 boards. Vahedi helped out playing a fantastic all round role at small forward with 18 points, 6 boards and 7 dishes. Iran's shooting guard Esfahani
(13798136) also played well contributing 11 points and 7 assists. However he could not stop his direct opponent who was on fire all night. Bogan
(13436463) scored 20 points while only missing one field goal attempt and also had 3 assists. While Huaizheng
(9469661) played a solid game in the front court with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists. All in all, Australia played a very good team game with very few standouts.
This final match of Pool C puts Australia on top. It was enough to grab the third overall seed behind China and Taiwan who had superior point differences. As a result, Australia find themselves in Pool D and will face their trans tasman rivals the Kiwis on Monday.