By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
The Korean Basketball League's (KBL) top two the Dongbu Promy and Ulsan Mobis had their winning streaks stopped at seven and four, while the KCC Egis edged closer to the summit of the table with three wins last week.
With defending champion the Promy still minus last season's Most Valuable Player Kim Joo-sung ― who is out with an ankle injury picked up Wednesday against the Daegu Orions ― the Mobis brought their unbeaten run to an end with a 79-74 victory Friday at the league leader's Wonju home.
But the men in green jerseys made an instant return to winning ways, rebounding with a 96-85 win Sunday over the LG Sakers, which had been on three-game winning run.
Rookie forward Yoon Ho-young, filling in for the absent Kim, produced 14 points.
Jeon Chang-jin, the Promy manager, used the team's mini-crisis to blood his future star and still managed to hang on to top spot, extending his record to 23-10.
Though the Mobis beat the league No. 1, they failed to grab victory over the third-placed Samsung Thunders, bringing their run of victories to a halt.
Thunders import Terrence Leather produced 33 points with eight rebounds, while veteran guard Lee Sang-min stole and added two points in the last 54 seconds to earn a 69-67 reverse victory in Seoul, Sunday.
The Mobis, which had trailed the Promy by one after Friday's valuable victory over the leaders, plumped a little, marking a 21-12 record.
The league's former tallest team Egis continued their ascent, producing a clean sweep of victories in their three games last week.
They started by grabbing a 84-79 win over the stumbling KT&G Kites in a road game Thursday, and then followed that up with back-to-back triumphs over the Thunders and ET Land BlackSlamer.
On Sunday, the Egis stunned the BlackSlamers 95-84 in Incheon. It was the first time the two had met since veteran center Seo Jang-hoon left the Egis for the BlackSlamer and rookie guard Kang Byung-hyun went in the opposite direction.
The Egis rookie center Ha Seung-jin, who returned to the court after injury last Thursday, had his first bout with former teammate Seo and the 2.21-meter-tall youngster emerged victorious, managing 11 points with nine rebounds, while Seo registered just 10 points with two rebounds.
The Egis surge saw them advance to fifth with a 17-16 record, while the BlackSlamer fell to seventh, with a 14-19 record in the standings.
The Kites, with an eye on top spot, started last week fourth but collapsed to sixth, losing against the Egis and bottom dogs KTF MagicWings.
Meanwhile, the Thunders veteran guard Lee has been elected the most popular player in the KBL, receiving 45,708 of 113,029 votes in a fans poll.
He has now been elected in the league's 'Best 5' for eleven consecutive years.