The South Korean curse still remains, constantly providing heartaches for the Filipinos.
Even though the Gilas main scorer Terrence Romeo caught fire late in the first half, the whole Gilas Pilipinas squad still went cold against rival South Korea, suffering a heartbreaking blowout 118-86 loss to leave the title contention in the hands of their tormenting counterparts in the quarter finals of FIBA Asia Cup at Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Beirut, Lebanon.
Off by a sloppy start in the few minutes of the first period, Gilas Pilipinas suffered from the early stringed baskets by the Koreans but still found themselves putting some good fights courtesy of fearless penetration by Jayson Castro and Christian Standhardinger’s powerplays inside the paint.
The South Koreans, however, with their steady 73% field goal percentage, still had their way on the offensive side of the court by consistently knocking those three-ball, added by spectacular inside passes for easy points to widen the gap into 8 points, 26-18.
Fortunately for the side of the Filipinos, Romeo clicked on his offensive night as he single handedly carried the misfiring Gilas by knocking down back to back long bombs in the opening of the second period followed by a floater and another trey to string an 11 straight points.
But the South Koreans remained in a sizzling hot shooting night as they’re still knocking down baskets in all cylinders and widening the gap into huge 16-point lead.
However, the collective efforts of Gilas Pilipinas’ Romeo, Castro and Aguilar trimmed the lead into 11 points – then again and again followed by waxing hot Terrence Romeo’s two consecutive triple and Castro’s another trey – narrowing the gap into a single digit lead, 57-49, at the end of the first half.
Turnovers and defensive miscues were piling up on the side of Gilas Pilipinas in the third period.
The Koreans, once again, was off to a strong start with their transition offense against the defensive struggling Gilas Pilipinas as they completely outplayed their counterparts while expanding the lead once more into a huge 24-point lead, 86-62.
There was no looking back for the mighty Koreans as they knocked the Filipinos out of FIBA Asia Cup title contention with a 118-86 victory.
Romeo provided sparks with 22 points, all in the second period while Chris Standhardinger contributed 17 points, four boards, and one steal for Gilas.
Junemar Fajardo played for the first time in all competition since injuring his right calf and chipped in two points and four board in just a short playing time.
As for the relentless Koreans, Kim Sun-Hyung scored 21 points, three rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
Gilas Pilipinas, since leaving out of title contention, will be relegated to a playoff for fifth to eighth places. | Tretch Melarpes – PTV
Box Scores:
South Korea 118 – Oh 22, S. Kim 21, J. Kim 15, S. Lee 14, Ju. Lee 11, Choi 9, Heo 9, Park 9, Yang 5, Jeon 3, Lim 0
Philippines 86 – Romeo 22, Standhardinger 17, Pogoy 12, Castro 11, Aguilar 7, Wright 6, Jalalon 5, Abueva 2, Fajardo 2, Almazan 2, Norwood 0, Cruz 0
Quarterscores: 26-18, 57-49, 86-62, 118-86