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2013 FIBA Asia Championship: Korea downs Qatar, completes semis cast


Kim Jongkyu slams one down over the Qatar defense. Nuki Sabio

(Updated 12:05am) Korea led from start to finish in a dominant performance against Qatar, 79-52, securing the last semifinals berth of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in the process, early Saturday at the MOA Arena.

With the win, Korea will now face off against the host country Philippines, on Saturday, while Qatar slips to the classification round against Kazakhstan.

The other semifinals pairing has upstart Chinese Taipei clashing against tourney powerhouse Iran.

Cho Sungmin took charge early for Korea, scoring nine points as part of their perimeter-oriented attack. Lee Seung Jun helped stretch the floor as well, dropping two buckets to help erect a 22-10 Korea lead.

With two minutes to play, Jarvis Hayes curled around for a midrange jumper, relieving Qatar, which was stymied in the paint. It wasn't enough though, as they still trailed 24-14 at the end of the first period, despite Daoud Mosa Daoud charities to close out the quarter.

Qatar rallied back in the second, as a pair of triples by Abdulrahman Saad helped narrow the gap to four, 32-28, with two and a half minutes to play. But Kim Jongkyu righted the ship for Korea as he slammed the ball home on two of their next three possessions, and put up 6-of-8 unanswered by Korea, good for a 40-28 lead at halftime.

Korea pulled away in the third, this time for good, by pressuring Qatar into turnovers. An and-one by Khalid Abdi narrowed the lead to 10 points early in the frame, 45-35, but they couldn't sustain the effort against the Korean blitz. Despite giving up several charities to Erfan Saeed, Korea led 61-42 heading into the fourth.

The final quarter was unremarkable, as Korea widened the gap to 20 points easily on a bucket by Kim Jongkyu, 70-50, midway through the period. Qatar looked to make it exciting after Mansour Elhadary forced a 24-second shot clock violation against Korea on the next play, but Qatar couldn't find their range, missing on their next two three-pointers. Instead, Lee Jonghyun scored his first points of the game, and Kim Taesul tossed in a triple, 75-62, with under three minutes left on the game clock, to finish this one off.

Cho Sungmin led the Korean attack with a game-high 16 points in 21 minutes. Lee Seungjun added 12 points off the bench, while Yoon Ho-Young put up 10 points and four boards.

Former NBA player Jarvis Hayes and Erfan Ali Saeed had 10 apiece for Qatar, but they were a combined 5-of-15 from the field. Daoud Mosa Daoud managed nine off the bench, albeit on 11 attempts, though he did also contribute four rebounds and four assists.

Korea finished the game shooting 31-of-69 (45 percent), while Qatar was 16-of-55 (29 percent). The former also fed off turnover points, 20-0, as they held a 10-16 turnover advantage against their rattled opposition. - AMD, GMA News



The scores:

Korea 79 - Cho 16, S. Lee 12, Yoon 10, M. Kim 9, S. Kim 7, Yang 7, Jongkyu Kim 6, T. Kim 6, Joo-Sung Kim 4, J. Lee 2, J. Choi 0

Qatar 52 - Hayes 10, Saeed 10, Daoud 9, Abdi 6, Saad 6, Musa 3, Elhadary 3, Mohammed Saleem Abdullah 2, B. Mohammed 2, Ali 1, M. Mohamed 0, Malek Saleem Abdullah 0

Quarter scoring: 24-14 40-28, 61-42, 79-52
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