Men's basketball team crash out of Asian Games after tough quarterfinal draw

Basketball

Published: 03 Oct. 2023, 15:05

Men's basketball team crash out of Asian Games after tough quarterfinal draw

China blocks Korea's Yang Hong-seok during the second quarter of the men's basketball quarterfinal game on Tuesday at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. [YONHAP]

Korea is out of the men’s basketball tournament at the Hangzhou Asian Games after losing to defending champions China, 84-70, in a tough quarterfinal draw.

Women's basketball team reach semifinals as men punch ticket to quarterfinals

Korea bucketed the first point with a two-pointer from Ra Gun-ah, but China picked it up fast to lead scoring early, putting the board at 20-13 by the end of the first quarter.

China kept their lead with a dominating second quarter, scoring 30 points over Korea’s 17 to end the first half at 50-30.

In the third, referees slapped players from both teams with an unsportsmanlike foul, with Korea’s Jeong Seong-hyeon and China’s Zhao Jiwei taking the hit.

Korea attempted a comeback during the third and held off China from widening the point gap by another large margin, scoring 15 points to China’s 16.

The Chinese team started celebrating their certain victory early in the fourth quarter, with the scoreboard at 84-70 with around 20 seconds to go as the players on the court ran out the clock.

China’s Du Runwang and Hu Jinqiu were the top scorers of the night, each bucketing 16 and 14 points, respectively. Korea’s Ra and Yang Hong-seok scored 14 and 13 points for their team but their teammates fell short, with Byeon Jun-hyeong earning the team eight points as the next-highest individual tally.

Bronze-medalists at the 2018 Asiad in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Korean men’s basketball team will not have an opportunity to defend their title in Hangzhou.

But there is hope yet for Korea in women’s basketball. The undefeated Korean women’s team, silver medalists as a Korean unified team in 2018 and gold medalists in 2014, heads into their semifinal match against Japan Tuesday night.

A win would qualify Korea for the final round and guarantee either a silver or gold medal.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]