2013 FIBA Asia Championship: Korea bounces back, whips Malaysia

Malaysia bowed out of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship with an 80-58 loss against South Korea on Saturday at the MOA Arena, but they will exit with their heads held high as they saved their best performance of the tournament for last.

Unlike in their first two games, the Malaysians refused to be blown out by the more talented Korean team. Iran had demolished them by 90 points, China by 91, but the young Malaysia squad earned a moral victory by only losing to Korea by 22 markers.

The Malaysians played their best quarter of the tournament to start the game against Korea. The much stronger Korean squad started with a 6-0 run, but the Malaysians strung together a 5-2 spurt of their own.

Tian Yun Kuek nailed a three-point shot with 1:35 left in the first period, then added a layup to cut the Korean lead down five points at 20-15. The Malaysians ended the quarter only trailing by seven points, 22-15.

The Koreans pounded the ball inside in the second quarter as they knew the Malaysians had a slim frontline rotation. Lee Song Jun had a field day at the paint, even adding a couple of dunks to the delight of the Korean fans who braved the rain to support their team. Lee even tried a Blake Griffin-style dunk late in the second period but he was fouled on the way.

Korea finally got some good distance between them and the Malaysians as they held a 44-26 lead, but Kuek nailed a triple to beat the halftime buzzer and trim the Korean buffer down to 15.

Kuek led all scorers as he tallied 19 points playing off the bench for Malaysia, while Lee Sueng Jin led Korea with 11 points on a perfect 5-of-5 clip from the field. Cho Sung Min scored nine points, while Lee Jonghyun and Yoon ho-young added five apiece for Korea at the half.

Malaysia kept the game close early in the third quarter, as Gan Hong Hoong nailed a corner three at the 6:25 mark to cut Korea’s lead down to 13 at 48-35.

Free throws by Eng Heng Soo and Sin Tee Ng late in the third period again brought down Korea’s lead to 10 at 55-45. Moon then hit a triple for Korea, but it was quickly taken back by a triple from Gan. The scores was 58-48 after three, still in favor of Korea.

A triple by Kuek inched the Malaysians closer at 59-51. However, this woke up the Koreans, who then unleashed a 10-0 run to lead 69-51 midway into the final period. A fastbreak layup by Kim Tae-Sool stretched Korea’s lead to 20 points at 76-56, and quashed any Malaysian hopes for an upset victory.

Lee Seung Jun closed out the game in style by throwing down two more dunks to send the Korean contingent home happy. - RAF, GMA News

 
The scores:

Korea: Lee S. 18, Lee. J 12, Cho 11, Moon 10, Kim JS. 7, Kim M. 6, Yoon 5, Kim. S. 4, Kim JK. 4, Kim T. 3, Yang 0, Choi 0

Malaysia: Kuek 25, Gan 10, Soo 5, Ooi 5, Wong 4, Fong 4, Choo 3, Ng 2, Wong 0, Mak 0, Tong 0

Quarter scoring: 22-15, 44-29, 58-48, 80-58