South Korea beats Japan 100-83 to top Group A in Asian Games basketball

By Yoo Jee-ho

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea head coach Nikolajs Mazurs gave kudos to his players for stepping up in timely fashion after their resounding win over Japan in the men's basketball tournament of the Asian Games in enemy territory Sunday.

Behind guard Lee Jung-hyun's 25 points and center Jang Jae-seok's 18 points and eight rebounds, South Korea beat Japan 100-83 to clinch the top spot in Group A at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, central Japan.

With its third straight victory, South Korea cruised into the quarterfinals as the top seed from Group A, leaving Japan in second place.

Lee, the reigning Korean Basketball League MVP, drained three consecutive three-pointers late in the third quarter and made five treys overall. Jang, listed at 205 centimeters, did plenty of dirty work in the paint against the 211cm Japanese center Alex Kirk, especially as he was brought in off the bench early after starting center Lee Seoung-hyun committed two fouls inside the game's first two minutes.

"I think we did a great job today as a team," Mazurs said. "Every player stepped up in the right moment even though it was a very hard, difficult battle in paint against Alex Kirk and against Japanese shooters. We tried to play with the maximum possible effort."

Japan led 42-40 at halftime, but South Korea outscored the opponent 60-41 in the second half to hit the century mark in points.

"At the end of the day, we found our rhythm," Mazurs said. "So I think it was a good competitive game today."

Lee Jung-hyun, the game's top scorer, said he was far from satisfied with beating Japan, as gratifying as the win felt after two losses to the rival in friendly games in August.

"Our objective is to win the tournament," Lee said. "We think this is only the beginning. We will continue to try our best in the quarterfinals, semifinals and hopefully the final."

Jang, the team's elder statesman at 35, admitted a game like this would not have been as exhausting if he had been a few years younger.

"I just wanted to play hard for my family and all the fans cheering for us," Jang said. "I felt this was a must-win game for us because it would have been difficult to win the gold medal if we reach the quarterfinals as the No. 2 seed. With the momentum behind us now after this win, I think we gave ourselves a pretty good chance at winning gold."

Lee Seoung-hyun, captain of the team who was limited to two points in 11 minutes, thanked Lee Jung-hyun and Jang for their hard work.

"It is great to wrap up the preliminary round like this, but we are not going to feel content," he said. "We will have a fresh start in the quarterfinals."