Korea dealt the Philippines another major blow in their storied rivalry, stopping the Filipinos with a lopsided 118-86 victory in their Final Eight matchup in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup at the Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Beirut Wednesday night.
The Koreans ran their deadly passing game and flashed their vaunted shooting to dismantle Gilas Pilipinas and earn a spot in the semifinals versus the winner of the Iran-Lebanon quarters face-off.
Veteran forward Oh Sekeun and his teammates dished out a near flawless game, raining down 16-of-21 triples on the Filipinos when they averaged only nine three-pointers on a 36-percent clip in their previous matches.
They also struck hard on transition plays when the Filipinos committed successive errors obviously on utter frustrations.
Korea built an 86-62 spread in the third and was hardly challenged the rest of the way.
It was a disappointing loss for the Gilas Pilipinas after a three-game sweep versus China, Iraq and Qatar in the group stage.
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And with the loss, Gilas, runner-up in the last two editions of this biennial Asian meet, was relegated in the fight for fifth to eighth places.
Superb in their wins against Kazakhstan, New Zealand and Japan, the Koreans played an even more impressive game in avenging their loss to the Filipinos in the semi-finals in 2013 in Manila.
Terrence Romeo kept Gilas in the game on a 22-point explosion in the second quarter before he was held scoreless in the second half.
Veteran forward Oh Sekeun and young center Kim Jongkyu, striking hard on drop passes by the Korean guards, combined for 37 points.
Meanwhile, gunners Chan Hee Park, Choi Junhong, Lee Junhyong, Heo Ung, Kim Sunhyong, Jeon Junbeom, Yang Hongseok and Lee Seounghyun combined for their three-pointers.
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Behind Romeo, Christian Standhardinger and Jason Castro, the Filipinos put up some challenge only in the first half of play.
June Mar Fajardo finally played some minutes but hardly made a difference.
The scores:
Korea 118 – Oh 22, Kim S. 21, Kim J. 15, Lee S. 14, Lee J. 11, Park 9, Choi 9, Heo 9, Yang 5, Jeon 3, Lim 0
Philippines 86 – Romeo 22, Standhardinger 17, Castro 12, Aguilar 7, Wright 6, Jalalon 5, Almazan 2, Abueva 2, Fajardo 2, Cruz 2, Norwood 2.
Quarterscores: 26-18, 57-49, 86-62, 118-86
