Sloppy S. Korea advances with Kazakhstan, Qatar

DISPIRITED by its loss to energetic Iran, South Korea blew hot and cold before downing Malaysia, 80-58, yesterday in the 27th Fiba Asia Championship at Mall of Asia Arena.

Inside operator Lee Seung-jun had 18 points and forward Lee Jonghyun added 12 markers for the Koreans, who were sloppy throughout and needed a big surge in the final period to put away the pesky Malaysians.

The Koreans committed 19 turnovers in chalking up their second win after Iran beat them the other night.

Carrying a 2-1 record, Korea advanced to the second phase of the group stages set to begin on Monday while Malaysia, which lost all of its games in Group C, fell to the classification round.

The Iran-China tussle later in the night will determine the seedings in their group going to the next stage.

Kazakhstan also moved to the second round after sweeping its first-round opponents in Group D. The Kazakhs cruised to an 80-67 win over India with Mikhail Yevstigneyev and naturalized guard Jonson Jerri delivering 21 and 16 points, respectively.

In Group B, Jarvis Hayes had 25 points and guard Daoud Mosa Daoud contributed 17 as unbeaten Qatar drubbed Hong Kong, 87-64, to end the first round with two victories.

Japan, which dropped a 75-74 decision against Qatar, and Hong Kong are also assured of seats in the second round where Japan   faces the top three performers in Group A headed by Gilas Pilipinas (2-1) and Chinese Taipei (3-0).

The scores:

KOREA 80—Lee S. 18, Lee. J 12, Cho 11, Moon 10, Kim JS. 7, Kim M. 6, Yoon 5, Kim. S. 4, Kim JK. 4, Kim T. 3, Yang 0, Choi 0.

MALAYSIA 58—Kuek 25, Gan 10, Soo 5, Ooi 5, Wong 4, Fong 4, Choo 3, Ng 2, Wong 0, Mak 0, Tong 0.

Quarters: 22-15, 44-29, 58-48, 80-58