Japan's star duo of Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe proved their talent on Monday evening, coming through down the stretch in the hosts' 70-56 win over Iran in a FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier at Ota City General Gymnasium.
Japan (4-4), which cruised past Kazakhstan 85-70 on Thursday, got off to a 2-0 start in the second round and extended its winning streak to four games going back to the first round. The team began its World Cup qualification campaign with four straight losses.
Iran, which has six wins, was handed its second loss of qualifying.
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