ISTANBUL The United States earned a top seed in the knockout round of the world championship with an 88-51 victory over Iran on Wednesday in the first meeting between the countries with a history of contentious relations.

The U.S. team, which downplayed the political aspect of the game, methodically pulled away in the first half, wearing down the Asian champions with its depth and athleticism.

Kevin Love scored 13 points and Kevin Durant had 12 for the Americans (4-0), who will meet the fourth-place team from Group A in the round of 16.

Group A

SERBIA 94, AUSTRALIA 79: Nenad Krstic returned from a three-game suspension for a brawl and had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Serbia (3-1). Milos Teodosic, who was given a two-game suspension, added 19 points for Serbia, which clinched a place in the knockout round.

ANGOLA 92, GERMANY 88, OT: Olimpio Cipriano scored 30 points for Angola (2-2), which rallied from a 10-point deficit late in the game. Angola advances to the second round, while Germany (1-3) was eliminated.

ARGENTINA 88, JORDAN 79: Luis Scola scored 30 points, his third straight game with at least that many, to lead top-ranked Argentina (4-0) to its fourth straight win.

Rasheim Wright had 22 points for Jordan (0-4).

Group B

CROATIA 84, TUNISIA 64: Bojan Bogdanovic scored 19 points for Croatia (2-2), which scored the game's first 10 points.

Macram Ben Romdhane scored 23 points for Tunisia (0-4), which ends preliminary play against the United States.

SLOVENIA 80, BRAZIL 77: Jaka Lakovic scored 20 points, including consecutive 3-pointers to halt a furious Brazil comeback, and Slovenia blew nearly all of a 17-point lead before holding on.

Slovenia (3-1) took sole possession of second place in Group B.

Group C

RUSSIA 89, CHINA 80: Sergey Monya scored 17 points and Sasha Kaun added 16 to lead Russia (3-1), which advanced to the round of 16.

GREECE 97, IVORY COAST 60: Nick Calathes, who played at Florida, scored 15 points to lead Greece (3-1), which secured a spot in the knockout round.

TURKEY 79, PUERTO RICO 77: Hidayet Turkoglu of the Phoenix Suns had 16 points and Ersan Ilyasova of the Milwaukee Bucks added 13 points and 13 rebounds for Turkey (4-0), the host team

Group D

NEW ZEALAND 71, CANADA 61: Kirk Penney scored 18 points to help New Zealand (2-2) eliminate Canada (0-4).

SPAIN 91, LEBANON 57: Marc Gasol scored 25 points to lead defending champion Spain (2-2) into the knockout round.

LITHUANIA 69, FRANCE 55: Jonas Maciulis had 19 points and Linas Kleiza added 15 for Lithuania (4-0). which clinched the top spot in Group D.