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KOR / KSA – Saudi Arabia win hearts, Korea the game
TEHRAN (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Men): Having already sealed their position on top of Group B, Korea coach Lee Hyosang chose to play his bench for longer than normal in the concluding engagement of preliminary round against Saudi Arabia.
And Saudi Arabia, making a comeback into this championship after a gap of one edition, seized the opportunity to give their fancied rivals a run for their money.
Saudi Arabia even managed to stretch the proceedings beyond regulation – locked 84-84 – before the Korean expertise prevailed.
Korea, in the end, won 103-97, but the crowd at the Azadi Stadium building up more for the game that followed – involving hosts Iran – surely got their bit of extra entertainment.
“It was a good test for our bench players,” Lee said.
“We were under pressure in the two games before this (against Kazakhstan and Jordan). And therefore this was the best opportunity I had to try our bench,” he said.
“I’m happy we withstood the pressure,” Lee added.
“Having said that, I must give credit to Saudi Arabia for putting up such a good show,” he said.
The top three scorers for the game came from, ironically, the losing side.
Scores
Korea 103 (Park Jaehyun 20, Kim Hyun Soon 16, Lim Jongill 14) bt Saudi Arabia 97 (Seraaj Abuswyhel 22, Yazeed Fallatah 21, Musaad Alsubaie 21, Hassan Binmohammed 17).
S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia
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