Korea Beats Kuwait
By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
South Korea opened the second round of the Asian Basketball Championship with a 78-58 win over Kuwait Monday in Tianjin, China.
Forward Yang Hee-jong continued to show off his shooting touch, dropping a team-high 16 points with three 3-pointers, and guards Kang Byung-hyun and Yang Dong-geun, who each made three treys, added 16 and 14, respectively, to lift Hur Jae's side to its fourth straight win.
The top 3 countries at the event will earn berths at the World Championship in Turkey next year.
Korea will next meet Taiwan, led by former national team boss Chung Kwang-suk, Tuesday.
The win was not as comfortable as the score may indicate.
The East Asians got off to a quick start as the two Yangs each drained three shots from beyond the arc, and 2.21-meter center Ha Seung-jin bullied Kuwaiti defenders down low with four points and three boards in just seven minutes of playing time to end the opening quarter 25-11.
Ha, who has not fully recovered from an ankle injury, was rested for the remainder of the game.
However, when the Korean sharpshooters went cold, it allowed their Middle East foes to close to within four points in the second period.
In the quarter, swingman Lee Kyu-sup failed to connect any of his four shots from downtown and the Korean team was held scoreless for four minutes. Kuwait cut away at the lead and a 6-0 run made it 32-28.
Entering the second half, the reloaded Korean team pulled away again as Yang Dong-geun scored on fast breaks and forwards Kim Joo-sung and Kim Min-soo pulled off three-point plays.
Kang, who poured in 13 of his 16 points in the final quarter, sank three shots from three-point range to seal the victory.