Korea Advances to Next Round
By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
Korea finished in first place in Group A and advanced to the second round of the FIBA Asia Championship with a 69-56 victory over the Philippines in Tianjin, China, Saturday to close out the preliminary round 3-0.
It was not the game the Koreans had expected against the Philippines, and their relatively poor performance against a team they should have trounced is not an encouraging sign entering the second round.
Yang Hee-jong led the way with 14 points and seven rebounds while Chung-Ang University player Oh Se-keun had 11 points.
Korean Basketball League (KBL) 2007-08 Most Valuable Player (MVP) Kim Joo-sung of the Dongbu Promy had eight points and eight rebounds.
The Hur Jae-managed team is in a good position with its perfect record, as two of their three wins will count towards qualification for the quarterfinals, along with its record in the second round.
The game was closer than expected against the 62nd-ranked Filipinos. The 26th-ranked Koreans ran into a pressure defense that didn't allow its guards much room. The Koreans were inconsistent throughout the game and did not perform as effectively on defense as expected, given a significant height advantage.
Korea has the tournament's tallest player, Ha Seung-jin (2.21 meters), and veteran big man Kim (2.05 meters), but neither could dominate inside because the guards were unable to get them the ball.
The Korean team made 25 of 51 3-pointers in a 122-54 win against Sri Lanka on Friday, but managed just four of 22 from beyond the arc on Saturday. Bang Sung-yoon of the SK Knights, who had eight 3s in the third quarter in the previous game, missed all four of his attempts against the Philippines.
The Korean team may have taken the Philippines a little lightly, as they did not appear to be well prepared for the match. Against a stifling Filipino defense, Korea fell back on the individual abilities of a few players.
Kang Byung-hyun was on fire off the opening tip, leading them on a 13-4 run to start the game but the Filipinos fought back to cut the lead to 17-14 to start the second quarter by exposing some holes in the Korean defense.
Korea began to pull away in the second led by Kim Min-soo of the Knights, who poured in nine points in the frame to give the team a 35-25 advantage at halftime.
But the Philippines' Cyrus Baguio gave Korea trouble all night and never allowed Korea to pull ahead too far.
South Korea, which is in the same group as Kuwait, Iran, the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan, will meet Kuwait in its first second round match on Monday at 10 a.m (KST).
Teams advancing to the second round are divided into two groups of six, but the teams will not face any countries they faced in the first round. Their wins against Japan and the Philippines will count toward their qualification to the quarterfinals.
Finishing first in the group will greatly help Korea in not only winning its first continental championship since 1997 but also in qualifying for the world championships next year. The top team in each group faces the fourth-place team in the other group in the quarterfinals.