THE Philippine men’s basketball team saw how deadly Korea can be from long distance in its 117-77 blowout of Thailand in their final group preliminaries game in the Asian Games on Thursday.
While naturalized center Ricardo Ratliffe took care of the low-post offense with 21 points, the Korean shooters handled the long-range scoring to complete a sweep of their first three games.
Jeon Junbeom shone brightest, knocking down five of his eight triples en route to finishing with 20 points a few days before he celebrates his 27th birthday.
Newcomer Heo Ung, a promising 6-foot-1 guard, has been making an immediate mark, swishing all his three attempts from beyond the arc against the Thais and averaging 12 points in the first three games.
Overall, the Koreans hit 15-of-32 of their shots from three-point territory for a blistering 47 percent, capping off a three-game run where they shot at least 40% from afar.
"The best thing about Korea is they've been so patient running their plays. They rely on their ball movement and would wait for an opportunity to break down the defense and attack it," Philippine coach Yeng Guiao said.
The Korean veterans, for their part, continue to be solid contributors.
Heo Ilyoung and Lee Junghyun, two of the holdovers from the squad that won gold four years ago, averaged a combined 24.6 points in their first three games.
The 6-foot-5 Heo had his best game against in his team’s 108-73 beat down of Mongolia where he finished with 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting from behind the arc. He also had 11 markers in their debut win against host Indonesia.
So now you know the gunners that the Filipino dribblers must pay close attention to when they face off.
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