China beat Qatar to score first win in FIBA Asia Cup

With Andray Blatche missing, his replacement as Gilas' naturalised player, Standhardinger, hit 16 points - 13 of them in the third quarter - as Philippines won 84-68.

It was not until the second half the Chinese pulled away for good, momentarily falling behind midway in the second quarter before regrouping.

That laid the foundations for a second victory in three days, despite a talismanic performance from Iraq's naturalised star, Kevin Galloway.

The Iranian sportsmen opened the game vigorously and well managed to assume the lead, and outnumbered the Syrians 28-20 at the end of the first quarter.

India will be hoping he is fit for their final game of the group stages against Syria on Sunday, in what is essentially an elimination game as both teams bid to finish third in the group and qualify for the next phase of the tournament.

Abdulrahman Saad and Ali Saeed Erfan were the leading scorers of Qatar with 19 and 18 points, respectively. But Jordan fought back in the first quarter before sealing off the match.

Iran, who started the campaign with a 101-54 win over India in Group A, defeated Syria 87-63 in Beirut's Nouhad Nawfal Stadium.

In a low-scoring, low-quality and largely forgettable game, neither side shot more than 36.7 percent from the field, with Jordan prevailing despite missing 48 of their 73 field-goal attempts. Lebanon is pitted against Kazakhstan, New Zealand and South Korea in Group C.