Korea breezes past Chinese Taipei to book last ticket to World Cup in Spain

KIM Mingoo of Korea (dark) vs TSENG Wen Ting FIBA Asia Photo by Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines — South Korea quickly put its close loss to host Philippines behind as it steamrolled past Chinese Taipei, 75-57, to claim the third and final slot for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in the final day of the 27th FIBA Asia Championship Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Korea, which suffered a79-86 setback at the hands of an inspired Smart Gilas Pilipinas side Saturday night, hit its first seven shots from the field and went 12-of-15 in the opening quarter to zoom to a 29-13 advantage.

The Koreans, led by Cho Sungmin’s eight first quarter points, picked up from there with hot-shooting guard Kim Mingoo also coming through anew with 21 points.

Korea will join Gilas Pilipinas and Iran, who will dispute the gold medal later, in next year’s trip to Spain.

Tapei hardly looked like the same team who ousted defending champion China in the quarterfinals with 17 turnovers and a poor 36% clip from the field. Lu Cheng-Ju paced the Taiwanese with 13 points.