The Iranian men's basketball team got the better of Macedonia with an 80-75 victory in the preliminary round of the ongoing 2016 Atlas Challenge. The match was played at the Suzhou Sports Center in China on Tuesday.

The Iranian team, which is currently ranked No. 17 in the world, lost the first twelve minutes of the game after the Macedonians capped the opening period with a one-point 19-18 lead. However, the two-time FIBA World Cup participating team managed to regroup and bounce back in the next succeeding quarter.

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The Iranians staged an impressive 26-12 run in the second quarter to end the first half of the game leading by 13 points at 44-31. In the next 24 minutes of play, the Iranian team was unable to get the upper hand.

Iran and Macedonia belong to the tourney's Group B, which also include teams from the United States and Lithuania. Group A consists of Japan, New Zealand, Belarus and the host country China.

The Iranians will be facing the United States in the second preliminary round on Wednesday. The Americans defeated the Lithuanians 71-69.

The eight-team international tournament serves as Iran's preperation before the upcoming 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The competition is scheduled to be held at the Pal Alpitour Indoor Sports arena in Turin, Italy from July 4 to July 9. The 2016 Atlas Challenge will run from June 14 through June 19.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand Tall Blacks started the preliminary round of the event with an impressive 80-65 routing of the Belarus. New Zealand's guard Tai Webster scored 16 points and his brother Corey added 14 points to lead the Kiwis to their first victory.

The New Zealanders will be facing the Japanese team on Wednesday, and China on Thursday.

Tags2016 Rio Olympics, 2016 fiba olympics qualifying tournament, 2016 atlas challenge, Iran Men's national Basketball team, FIBA, Fiba rankings