ASTANA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - Kazakhstan rallied in overtime to defeat Iraq even as Iran bounced back by outclassing Qatar on Day 4 of the Asian Qualifiers.

In Tehran, Team Melli manhandled Qatar, 65-39, to bounce back from a Day 2 loss and earn their first win of the Qualifiers. Arsalan Kazemi ruled the boards with 17 rebounds to prop up Iran's cause, while the scoring cudgels fell on the shoulders of Meisam Mirzaei, Sajjad Mashayekhi and Vahid Dalirzahan, who put up 14, 13 and 10 points respectively. Qatar could not find any rhythm at all in this game, and they absorbed their second loss in Group D. Al Annabi were paced by Abdulrahman Saad's 18 points.

Over in Astana, Kazakhstan proved to be more composed in crunch time as they survived a grit-and-grind affair against Iraq, 82-76. Anatoliy Kolesnikov and Rustam Yargaliyev came through for the Steppe Wolves, whose two wins in the first window have given them solo leadership of Group D. Iraq actually looked well on their way to another huge win before clutch plays from Kolesnikov, Yargaliev and Nikolay Bazhin helped the hosts force overtime against the Lions of Mesopotamia. That's when things unraveled for Iraq as they could score just 3 points in the extra period, while the home team leaned on the heroics of Kolesnikov and Anton Ponomarev to preserve the win. Kolesnikov was brilliant here with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

The second window begins on 22 February 2018 with Iraq playing hosts to Qatar and Iran facing Kazakhstan in Astana.

FIBA