BEIJING (Olympics) - Croatia destroyed Iran 91-57 to end their Group A preliminary round campaign at the Olympics on a winning note.

Jasmin Repesa’s team, coming off a narrow defeat to Lithuania, took a 54-16 lead by half-time and coasted to big win.

Marin Rozic and Marko Tomas had 16 points apiece for Croatia and Nikola Prkacin scored 15.

Captain Samad Nikkhah finished with a game-high 25 points for the Iranians, who won last year’s FIBA Asia Championship but failed to win a game in Beijing.

"We came here to get some experience and we came here to learn," said Iran coach Rajko Toroman. "Of course I'm satisfied."

Iran guard Amir Amini echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“This is our first time playing in the Olympics and we feel greatly honoured,” he said.

“We hoped to get some experience from the tournament, which will help us in the future.”

Croatia did not have the services of Marko Popovic again because of injury, and Zoran Planinic also sat out of the Iran game.

The team is in third place in Group A and will take on Spain in the quarter-finals.

“Spain is  one of the best teams,” Rozic said, “but I think with our players, we can beat them like we did last year in the European Championships.”

TO FIND OUT HOW THE GROUP RANKINGS ARE CALCULATED, DOWNLOAD THE FIBA RULES AND CHECK PAGE 71

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