Iran repelled a spirited Philippines to open their account in the second round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers with a big triumph, 81-73 at the Azadi Hall in Tehran, capital of Iran.

Things were tight between the Iranians and Filipinos all throughout the game, which featured a staggering 20 lead changes.

Christian Standhardinger carried the fight early for the Philippines with 19 points in the first half, while Sajjad Mashayekhi also impressed with 13 points in the first two periods, fiba.com reported.

In the second half, though, veteran Samad Nikkhah Bahrami took over, scoring, assisting and making one big play after another to help the home team put some distance between themselves and the new-look Team Pilipinas, which featured just two returnees from the previous window's Philippine team.

By game's end, Iran's size and depth proved to be too much for the Filipinos, who were without key players Andray Blatche, Jayson Castro, Terrence Romeo and June Mar Fajardo. Team Pilipinas were led by Standhardinger, who finished with 30 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while shooting 10-of-14 from the field. He was the only Filipino in double-digit scoring.As for the victors, Bahrami tallied 21 points, 8 boards and 4 assists, while Mashayekhi filled the stat-sheet with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals to his name. Iran sparingly use the injured Hamed Haddadi, but Meisam Mirzaei, Rouzbeh Arghavan and Mohammad Hassanzadeh all did a good job of patrolling the paint in his stead.

This was Iran's sixth win in seven games, while the Philippines absorbed their third defeat against four victories.

Iran fly to Tokyo next to play Japan, while the Philippines return home to host Qatar on 17 September.