DOHA (Qatar) - The action in Group E of the Asia Cup Qualifiers today confirmed how competitive all four teams have been. Coming off a loss to Qatar, Syria pulled off what might be one of the biggest upsets of the Asia Cup Qualifiers by taking down Iran, 77-70. Saudi Arabia rebounded back from a tough loss themselves to beat Qatar in overtime, 73-67.

In the first half, it seemed as if there would be no surprises in the game between Syria and Iran. Syria had maintained to keep the gap within a respectable range, but Iran were building up steam. The lead went up to as much as 10 in the second quarter and Behnam Yakhchali had already scored 8 points.

However, Syria continued to relentlessly attack the defense and little by little, Iran started to crack. George Kell III (34 points) was the focal point of the offense for Syria and his penetration to the basket drew foul after foul from Iran’s wings, going to the line for 14 free-throw attempts while missing only one shot.

After trading baskets back and forth throughout most of the second half, Syria took the lead on a basket by Anthouny Bakar (12 points) with just over 3 minutes left. They’d hold onto that lead until the end of the final buzzer, which sounded a 77-70 upset victory for Syria.

Mohammad Jashidi had 13 points and 8 assists, while Michael Rostampour had 12 points and 6 rebounds but both players are probably hoping their could have contributed more to get Iran the win.

For Syria, it was an important victory as they were coming off a disappointing loss to Qatar themselves just two days earlier. As it was against a world-class team in Iran, it was also a historic win for Syria as well. The result also denied Iran the opportunity to immediately clinch direct qualification to Asia Cup 2021.

The game between Saudi Arabia and Qatar had its own dramatic twists and turns.

The two teams went toe-to-toe through the entire game with neither side building up a lead up to double-digits. Qatar were able to capitalize on Saudi Arabia’s failure to control the ball, turning their opponent’s 19 turnovers into 25 points. However, they weren’t able to score efficiently enough at only 31.9 percent field goal shooting.

Despite their turnover woes, Saudi Arabia facilitated their inside advantage and dominated the paint. Big men Mohamed Alsuwailem and Mohammed Almarwani combined for 27 points on 12-15 shooting, constantly causing trouble for Qatar.

Still, the edge wasn’t enough for Saudi Arabia to seal the deal in regulation as the game was played for an extra five minutes of overtime to decide the winner.

From there, it was the Khalid Abdel Gabar show. His midrange jumper with less than one minute to go drew comparison to another famous clutch shot. He doubled-down with a three-pointer a few seconds later to put the nail in the coffin. Abdel Gabar finished the game with 15 points in the 73-67 win for Saudi Arabia.

With the results of these two games, all four teams of Group E will leave the Qatar bubble with one win and one loss each.

Iran are still sitting at the top of the standings with a 3-1 record. Syria are at second-place with a 2-2 record and the tiebreaker over third-placed Saudi Arabia who are also 2-2. Qatar remain at the bottom with a 1-3 record, though the gap is close enough for quick changes in the standings at the next window.

FIBA