CHANGSHA-HUNAN (2015 FIBA Asia Championship) - Palestine pulled off the shock of the opening day at the FIBA Asia Championship on Wednesday when they came from behind and beat the Philippines at the 16-team event in China.

Trailing by as many as 16 points early in the second quarter of the Group B game, the Palestinians, playing in the tournament for the first time, battled back to claim a 75-73 win.

Jamal Abu Shamala connected on six of his shots from long range and finished with a game-high 26 points and 15 rebounds for Palestine.

Sani Sakakini added 22 points for Palestine, while Andray Blatche had 21 points and 12 rebounds in a losing cause.

Sakakini blocked a potential game-winning three-pointer by Blatche at the buzzer.

We certainly didn't come here just to play some games. We came to win - Sakakini

Making Palestine's win all the more impressive is that the Philippines finished runners-up to Iran in Manila two years ago and last summer competed at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.

Those teams were led by Chot Reyes, while Tab Baldwin has the reins to the squad now.

"Fortunately we have the whole tournament to rectify that mistake, fix it, get ourselves back where we belong, winning games and putting ourselves in a position to move into the playoff round of this tournament," Baldwin said.

"We cannot hang our heads. There's too much tournament left to play.

"We feel bad mostly for the people of the Philippines we feel we let down today, but we'll be back to fight tomorrow."

Also in Group B, Hong Kong rolled to an 87-50 victory over Kuwait.

Lebanon held their nerve and clinched an impressive 92-87 win in Group D over a resilient Chinese Taipei on Wednesday at the FIBA Asia Championship.

x

In one of the closest games on opening day, Jean Abd El Nour connected from behind the arc to snap a 78-78 tie with 3:24 remaining and Lebanon held on for a famous triumph. 

Ahmad Ibrahim was one of a handful of players to make big plays in the opening contest as Lebanon held off a Quincy Davis-led Chinese Taipei.

Davis finished with 23 points in a losing cause.

There was another thriller in Group D between Qatar and Kazakhstan.

Pavel Ilin hit a three-pointer for with eight seconds left to force overtime but Qatar then prevailed, 79-75, after the extra period.

Clinton Johnson made a pair of free-throws early in the overtime to give Qatar a 73-71 lead and the side coached by Vasileios Fragkias stayed in front the rest of the way.

Kazakhstan led by as many as 12 points in the game but ended up enduring a tough defeat in a hard Group D.

Iran opened their quest for a fourth title by routing Japan, 86-48, in Group A.

Japan held the initiative early, leading by three midway through the first quarter, but Iran eventually got to grips with their opponents got outstanding play from Oshin Sahakian to take the lead for good.

Sahakian led the way for Team Melli with 15 points, while Mohammad Hassanzadeh added 13 points off the bench.

India took command of their opening day clash with Malaysia in the first half and then lowered the boom in the third quarter in a 102-73 Group A triumph.

Amjyot Singh had 24 points to lead India in scoring while teammate Akilan Pari contributed 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and a couple of steals.

Korea buried 15 of their 24 attempts from long range and cruised past Jordan in Group C, 87-60.

Korea had five players hit at least once from beyond the arc as they put on a shooting clinic.

Cho Sung-Min paced Korea with 19 points.

In the same group, hosts China rolled to a 91-42 victory over Singapore.

Looking to bounce back from a disappointing tournament in the Philippines two years ago when they lost to Chinese Taipei in the Quarter-Finals, the Chinese poured in 26 of the game's first 30 points in a run that spanned nearly the entire first quarter and put the result beyond doubt.

FIBA