South Korea drubs Gilas
PH may still get 5th place after FIBA Asia qtrs loss
MANILA – South Korea exacted revenge on t he Philippines in Beirut, Lebanon, beating Gilas Pilipinas 118-86 in the knockout quarterfinals of the FIBA Asia Cup at the Nouhad Nawfal Stadium on Wednesday night (Thursday in Manila).
Still licking wounds from their semifinals defeat in the 2013 edition of the tournament in Manila, the Koreans came out firing from all angles to tally their most lopsided win against the Filipinos.
South Korea right away surged to 9-5 behind Kim Sun Heung. Gilas rallied back to take a slim lead on inside hits by Christian Standhardinger but triples by the Koreans allowed them to regain the upper hand at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Koreans pulled away by as much as 16 points but the Philippines kept in step via a barrage of triples from Terrence Romeo.
South Korea dropped the hammer for good in the second half behind Kim and Oh Sekeon to build a 77- 55 lead on a triple by Choi Jun Yong before widening the gap further to its largest at 28 points in the final canto.
Oh led the scoring with 22 – 12 came in the second half – while Kim added 15 markers for South Korea, which will face the winner between Lebanon and Iran in the semifinals.
Romeo top-scored with 22 – all in the second quarter – while Standhardinger added 17 for Gilas, which suffered an early exit this year after making it all the way to the finals in 2013 and 2015.
“You have no choices about how you lose but you have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again,” Gilas head coach Chot Reyes told his players after the match.
Gilas was relegated to the classification phase, where it could salvage a fifth-place finish against fellow quarterfinals losers./