India's men's basketball team took a sweet revenge Monday night when they beat Afghanistan 83-76 in a qualifying round game to book the last berth of the preliminary round at the 16th Asian Games.
This was the second meet between two sides this year. India lost 65-65 in their first fight in February in the final of the South Asian Games.
"It's a huge victory for us," India coach Harris Bill said. "We lost to Afghanistan early this year and we have made big progress since then.
"They are nice at long shot and I was not sure if we could win the game after the first half. I just asked my players to improve defensively and then offensively and our players did a good job and won the game."
Two sides played a close game in the first half with lead changed seven times and ties seen as many before Afghanistan used a 15-2 run for a 38-27 lead.
Afghanistan built a 38-30 halftime lead backed by Mohammad Mojaddidi's 19 points. But India fought back strongly and tied the game 53-53 after the third quarter. They took the lead 56-53 only less than two minutes into the fourth and never relinquished.
Four India players scored double-digit as Jagdeep Singh led the team with 22 points and eight rebounds and Trideep Rai added 18.
India outshot Afghanistan 53 percent to 41. Afghanistan was led by Mohanmmad Mojaddidi with a game-high 25 points.
India will join Iran, Japan, Qatar, Chinese Taipei and the Philippines in Group F in the preliminary round to be started Tuesday.