Great Britain Men confirmed their place in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games quarter-finals with a 69:57 victory over Iran.
Terry Bywater posted a double-double of 18 points and 16 assists after a brilliant impact from the bench as Bywater, Abdi Jama, Ian Sagar and Lee Manning all ended with double-figure point hauls.
Both teams had spells in the lead in the opening quarter with five lead changes in the first 10 minutes of the game, but, after ParalympicsGB took the lead in the final minutes of the first quarter they remained in control on the scoreboard.
The early play saw Manning and Harry Brown linking-up well; Brown twice assisting Manning with excellent accuracy on the pass to find the dominant Manning under the basket.
GB worked hard in defence to keep Iran out of the paint with all 10 of their opening quarter points coming outside the paint. GB did trail by 12 points to seven with three-and-a-half minutes left of the quarter but six points from Gregg Warburton and a three-pointer from Terry Bywater led the opening quarter fightback as GB took a 20-15 lead into quarter two.
ParalympicsGB continued to extend their lead in the second quarter, Bywater continuing his impact off the bench, posting 11 first-half points and nine assists after his introduction two-thirds of the way through the opening quarter.
GB extended their lead to 11 points in the first half of the second quarter; Abdi Jama continuing to add to his points tally from the top of the key. It was a lead that was cut to five with just under four minutes to go of the half, but, just as in the first quarter, GB finished the quarter strongly. Three assists from Bywater to captain Ian Sagar added six points in the final 70 seconds, including two points on the buzzer, for a 40:31 half-time score.
It was a combination that added two more points in the opening minute of the third quarter as GB did extend their lead to 13 points at one point in a close quarter. 10-10 was the quarter score with Iran closing to within seven points of Great Britain’s total before Brown on the buzzer restored GB’s nine-point advantage heading into the final quarter.
Six points from Jama in the first five minutes of the final quarter and four from Lee Manning, as he returned to the action at the start of Q4, saw GB begin to pull away. Their advantage was extended to 19 when Sagar and Bywater combined again for four points to add to Sagar’s and GB’s tally.
All 12 ParalympicsGB athletes had minutes on court as Iran fought to the end. GB won 69:57 to join the ParalympicsGB Women in the quarter-finals with their final Pool B game still to come.
Bywater ended the game with 18 points, 16 assists and eight rebounds, with Abdi Jama scoring 16, Ian Sagar 14 and Lee Manning 10.
ParalympicsGB play Australia in their final Pool B game on Monday (30 August) at 09:15 (BST).
