The Korean men’s basketball team has advanced to the quarter-finals of the Hangzhou Asian Games and will face hosts China.
Chu Il-seung’s men’s basketball team defeated Bahrain 88-73 in the quarter-finals of the tournament at Zhejiang University Zijinjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on 2 February.
They will play hosts China in the quarter-finals.
With the match taking place at 1pm local time on the 3rd, the team will be under pressure to hit the court after only 14 hours of rest.
If the team fails to make it past the quarter-finals, it will be the first time since the 2006 Asian Games in Doha that they will go home without reaching the last four.
The only time South Korea has failed to reach the quarter-finals of a basketball event since Manila 1954 was in Doha 2006.
The underdogs struggled in the first quarter, committing 10 errors in the first half alone, even though Korea did not employ any defensive tactics such as full-court press.
After finishing the first quarter 20-24, Bahrain allowed Korea to score 31 points in the second quarter.
At the start of the third quarter, Bahrain lost the ball again to Lee Woo-seok (Hyundai Mobis), who scored a fast break layup to extend the lead to 21 points, 57-36.
Sensing that the opposing guards were not able to keep the ball, the national team’s guards increased the intensity of their pressure, and a series of steals by Lee Woo-seok and Byun Jun-hyung (Commerce), followed by fast-break points, wiped out Bahrain’s momentum.
With the score at more than 20 points, Chu gave his main players a break with 2:54 left in the third quarter, even bringing in the “youngest” player, Moon Jung-hyun (KT), who entered the professional basketball league last month as the No. 1 overall pick in the rookie draft.
Yang Hong-seok (LG) laid the foundation for the victory with 14 points and seven rebounds in the first half alone.
Centre Ha Yoon-ki (KT) also did his part under the basket with a team-high 16 points.
Ragan-ah (KCC), a key resource under the basket and on the perimeter, played 10 minutes, while Heo Hoon (Sangsung) played only 8:29. 파워볼게임