Bahrain advanced into the second round of the 2006 Doha Asian Games men's basketball tournament after beating Macao, China 91-56 here on Friday.

Mahmood Ghuloom scored 30 points to lead Bahrain to its second win in two days.

"Ghuloom was excellent, scoring 30 points in just 30 minutes," said Bahrain head coach Salman Ramadan. "In the second half we were in the driving seat so I rested my players."

Bahrain established a comfortable 71-39 lead after three quarters and Ramadan rested his big shooters in the final quarter.

Bahrain, who was awarded a 20-0 victory over India on Thursday following the opponent's withdrawal, has secured a top finish in Group A and a berth in the next round where it will face Qatar, South Korea, Iran, Jordan and Group C winner from the first round.

Despite the loss, Macao, China's head coach Zeng Zhaozhong wasn't too disappointed.

"We have nothing to be ashamed of, our team is so young," he said.

Later on Friday, Mongolia held off a strong late surge from Palestine to claim its first victory at this tournament 78-70.

Trailing 59-45 amid the third quarter, Palestine fought hard to pull within 73-70, but that's the closest they could get.

In Friday's other action, Afghanistan, 65-57 winner over Hong Kong, China on Thursday, lost to Syria 84-66 while Kazakhstan beat the United Arab Emirates 89-71.