basketball-Olympics
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| ▲ Lee Dae-sung of South Korea (R) tries to drive past Lukas Lekavicius of Lithuania during the teams' Group A match in the FIBA Olympic men's basketball qualifying tournament at Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania, on July 1, 2021, in this photo provided by FIBA. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Ra Gun-a of South Korea (R) dribbles into the body of Gytis Masiulis of Lithuania during the teams' Group A match in the FIBA Olympic men's basketball qualifying tournament at Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania, on July 1, 2021, in this photo provided by FIBA. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Byeon Jun-hyeong of South Korea (L) tries to score over Mantas Kalnietis of Lithuania during the teams' Group A match in the FIBA Olympic men's basketball qualifying tournament at Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania, on July 1, 2021, in this photo provided by FIBA. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
basketball-Olympics
S. Korea crashes out of Olympic basketball qualifying tournament
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, July 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's dream of playing in the Olympic men's basketball tournament has crashed and burned following a second straight loss in a qualifying tournament.
South Korea dropped to Lithuania 96-57 in its second game of the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament at Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania, on Thursday (local time).
That loss eliminated South Korea from the last-chance qualifying event, as Lithuania and Venezuela, which beat South Korea 94-80 on Wednesday, advanced to the next phase.
These three countries were in Group A in Kaunas. Group B had Poland, Slovenia and Angola. In the semifinals on Saturday, Lithuania will take on Poland, and Venezuela will face Slovenia. Only the final winner will punch a ticket to the July 23-Aug. 8 Tokyo Olympics.
South Korea's last Olympic appearance in men's hoops came in 1996 in Atlanta.
Naturalized center Ra Gun-a led all scorers with 26 points in the losing effort, but Davidson forward Lee Hyun-jung was the only other South Korean to score in double figures with 11.
For Lithuania, Memphis Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 13 boards in just 16:48 of action. Fellow NBA player, Domantas Sabonis of the Indiana Pacers, had nine points and 10 rebounds while playing just under 23 minutes.
South Korea, ranked 30th, stayed close with eighth-ranked Lithuania in the early going. With Ra scoring the team's first eight points, it was only 12-10 for Lithuania about six minutes into the game.
The Europeans took over from there, putting together a 16-2 run to blow the game open.
Lithuania then took a 49-34 lead into the second half, and held South Korea to just nine points in the third quarter to all but determine the outcome of the game.
Lithuania out-rebounded South Korea 53-26, and held the opponents to a 36.8 percent shooting from the field. Lithuania scored 52 points in the paint, compared to 28 by South Korea.
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