(LEAD) 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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| ▲ Cho Sang-hyun, head coach of the South Korean men's national basketball team, watches his players in action against 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) |
(LEAD) basketball-Olympics
(LEAD) S. Korea crashes out of Olympic basketball qualifying tournament
(ATTN: ADDS comments, 3rd photo)
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.
South Korean head coach Cho Sang-hyun, who took the helm in May and has coached the team at the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers and the Olympic qualifying tourney, said he and his players alike must learn and grow from this experience.
"We have to identify areas that need improvement and grow together moving forward," Cho said. "It's been a difficult month or so over the two competitions. I want to thank the players for their hard work, and this is just the beginning."
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.
Coach Cho said he wanted his players to apply pressure on the ball and play physical defense, but the bottom fell out in the third quarter.
"We tried to force the issue with isolation plays on offense," he said. "We turned the ball over too easily."
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 with 28 by South Korea.
On a brighter note, Cho said he was pleased with the play of Lee Hyun-jung, the only NCAA Division I player on the national team. He had a game-high 18 points against Venezuela but was held to 11 points versus Lithuania.
"He exceeded my expectations at this event, but he has a long ways to go," Cho said. "He needs be better on defense. He also has to learn how to play a two-man game and to make his teammates better."
As for Yeo Jun-seok, the only high school player for South Korea, Cho said: "He still seems confused about where he should be on the floor. But he has all the physical tools to become a good player."
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