Korea guard Kim Sun-hyung, right, drives to the basket as Dominican Republic forward Alfred Horford defends during an Olympic qualifier in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday. / AP-Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

The Korean men’s basketball team’s bid to reach the Olympic finals for the first time in 16 years was dashed Wednesday, after losing 95-85 to the Dominican Republic. This is another blow to Korean basketball as the women’s squad also failed to earn a place at the 2012 London Olympics last week.

In the second group match of an Olympic qualifying tournament in Venezuela, Korea managed a first-half lead of 41-37 but could not deal with their opponents’ size advantage and were outrebounded 58-28 down the stretch.

“We came here mainly focusing on the Dominican Republic rather than Russia but I am very sorry after losing that game,” said Korea’s head coach Lee Sang-beom

“Our defensive strategy paid off, but a size disadvantage cost us the victory.”

Korea was pummeled 91-56 by Russia on Tuesday and this second-straight loss saw the Korean side eliminated.

In the latter part of the match, Atlanta Hawks forward Al Horford, who was limited to nine points at the turn, sparked an offense that had struggled through the first two periods and the Dominicans tied the game at 52-52 before grabbing a 71-65 lead by the end of the third quarter.

Although Korea fought back to regain the lead at 78-77 through a barrage of shots by Lee Jong-hyun, Lee Seung-jun and Kim Sun-hyung with just over five minutes to play, the Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari-led Dominicans went ahead 89-80 three minutes from time behind the inside dominance by Horford and Jack Michael Martinez, who combined for 37 boards.

Center Lee Seung-jun recorded 21 points and six rebounds and guard Kim Tae-sool had 13 points, six boards and six assists for the Korean side.

Horford scored a game-high 30 points.