Fuente: © FIBA (Federación Internacional de Basket)
http://www.fiba.com

FIBA: FIBA Asia - South Koreans grab fifth place

/noticias.info/ DOHA (Asian Games) - Defending champions South Korea finished off their 15th Asian Games on a high note, using an impressive first half to capture fifth place with an 87-76 victory over Japan.

Kim Joo Sung had 30 points, nine rebounds, two assists and four blocked shots in leading the way for the Koreans. Kim Sung Chul scored all 14 of his points in the first half and Yang Dong Geun came off the bench to register all 12 of his points in the second half.

Choi Bu Yung's team more or less won the game in the first half, leading 49-29 going into the break, helped by a 14-0 run that made it 39-19. South Korea shot 51% (19 of 37) for the half and held Japan to 29% (10 of 34).

Although they entered the tournament as defending champions, coach Choi had said that retaining the crown was not the primary aim, and that the tournament had been about development.

"We have a lot of young players," he said. "Our goal was to change the generation of the team rather than to be the top of the games.

"Still, our goal was to be in the top four. But we had disappointing matches against Iran and Jordan. In the beginning, I worried a lot, but as time passed we improved."

South Korea used their outside shooting to continually keep Japan at bay, hitting 57% (12 of 21) of their three-point shots in the game. The Koreans also out-rebounded Japan 44-30.

Ryota Sakurai scored 18 points off the bench to lead Japan while Kosuke Takeuchi had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Fumihiko Aono chipped in 12 points in a losing effort.

Seventh place went to Kazakhstan - who suffered a heartbreaking loss in the quarter-finals - as they beat Chinese Taipei 100-74.

Kazakhstan, who gave up an eight-point lead in the final 27 seconds to lose to Jordan in the final eight, took advantage of their superior inside strength over the east Asians.

Alexey Yeropkin's side - the 2002 bronze medalists - shot 52% (38 of 73) for the game while out-scoring Chinese Taipei 44-30 in the paint and out-rebounding them 55-23. Kazakhstan had 20 offensive rebounds in scoring 22 second-chance points.

Anton Ponomarev led all scorers with 25 points while Mikhail Yevstigneyev collected 23 points and 16 rebounds.

"The Asian Games was a very good experience. We showed that we can play and that we love to play this game. I am a bit sad that we're not in the top four, but we're happy," said Kazakhstan forward Yevgeniy Issakov, who had six points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Chou Shih Yuan led Chinese Taipei with 17 points.

Lebanon finished off a disappointing tournament with a victory to capture ninth place, as Joe Vogel scored 31 points and Hussein Tawbe had 19 points and 17 rebounds in Lebanon's 88-82 triumph.

Michael Madanly and Muhammad Sharif Sharif combined for 44 points but they were not enough for the Syrians.

Uzbekistan grabbed 11th place by beating Bahrain 92-73 as Aleksandr Kozlov had 25 points and Mikhail Shafenkov collected 16 points and 15 rebounds.

The men's tournament finishes Friday with China looking to claim their sixth Asian Games title when they take on hosts Qatar. Iran and Jordan play it out for the bronze medal as well.

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