Sports Briefs

BASKETBALL

Korean lands 2nd after Iran at 2016 Asia Challenge

The Korean national basketball team finished the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Challenge 2016 as the runner-up - after Iran.

The final score of the final match on Sunday in Tehran, Iran, was 47-77, Iran.

During the final game on Sunday, Korea finished the first half trailing behind the Middle Eastern country by 10 points at 20-30. Still, it looked like Korea had a shot to come back and even out the match. But things quickly fell apart as soon as the third quarter started. Hamed Hadadi, an Iranian center standing at 2.18 meters (7 feet 2 inches), worked his way up under the basket to tally a double-double, or 20 points and 23 rebounds, for his country.

Korea’s Lee Seung-hyun, a power forward, tried to make up for the loss and contend Hadadi inside the key but came up short. Lee scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds for Korea.

At the end of the day, it seemed the battle under the basket was what made all the difference in the world. Iran out-grabbed Korea in rebounds by 64 to 27.

The loss by a 30-point deficit came after the defeat to Iran by their 38-point difference during the group stage on September 14.

Under Hur Jae’s watch, Korea made it all the way up to the finals without star guard Yang Dong-geun, who was out due to injury, defeating Japan, Thailand and Iraq, who had naturalized players on their rosters. Still, as one of the finalists standing on the podium after the tournament, Korea earned a ticket to next year’s FIBA World Cup.

BASEBALL

Cards’ Oh Seung-hwan nabs first save in over a week

Oh Seung-hwan of the Saint Louis Cardinals tallied his first save in nine days.

During the Major League game against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday at the AT&T Park in San Francisco, Oh went to the mound with the closing assignment at the ninth inning while the Cards led the Giants by 3-0.

It didn’t take long for Oh to conclude the inning. Against the first Giants batter at the bottom of the ninth, the Korean flame thrower carded a strikeout, tossing fastballs and sliders. Grounding out the next batter, Oh finished off the inning when Joe Panik, the last batter of the day for the Giants, flied out to right field. Carding 18 saves of the season, Oh’s earned run average went further down to 1.79.

Oh had been sitting out games for the past week due to a light pain in his thigh and just came onboard the previous day against the Giants.

On Saturday, Oh had grabbed his fifth win of the season, leading the team to victory after coming to the mound when the Cards were trailing at 1-2.

Elsewhere in the majors, Kang Jung-ho of the Pittsburgh Pirates went 1-for-3 while scoring a run during the Pirates 4-7 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday at the Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Pirates third baseman scored at the top of second inning after walking to the base.

By Choi Hyung-jo