The national basketball team, led by coach Ahn Joon-ho, won 85-84 in an exhibition match against Japan held at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Saturday. Before the match, Korea was expected to be inferior to the Japanese team.
Japan, preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics, has the best members, but South Korea has excluded a large number of veterans in their 30s who have supported the national team from the starting list. In addition, Choi Joon-yong and Lee Seung-hyun of Busan KCC, the winners of the 2023-24 professional basketball season, were also excluded from the list of physical fitness.
In addition, South Korea lacked time to work together for about four days ahead of the match against Japan. 동행복권파워볼
However, South Korea led by 20 points with the performances of Lee Jung-hyun and Ha Yoon-ki from the beginning of the game and won a pleasant victory in front of Japanese fans.
Lee Jung-hyun showed strong performance by scoring 27 points, while Ha Yoon-ki kept the basket under the basket with 15 points and seven rebounds. Captain Byun Jun-hyung supported the team by scoring 12 points.
South Korea, which was trailing 0-8 in the early part of the game, launched a counterattack by starting with Byun Jun-hyung’s three-point shot. Afterwards, Lee Jung-hyun, Byun Jun-hyung, and Ha Yoon-ki continued to score evenly and finished the first half with a big lead of 46-35.
Korea continued to take the lead even in the third quarter. Korea ended the third quarter with Lee Jung-hyun and Byun Joon-hyung, who scored 17 points including four three-point shots, 72-52.
South Korea, which was expected to win easily, was chased to 80-79 in the fourth quarter due to Japan’s strong counterattack with attacks from Yuki Kawamura and Josh Hawkinson.
As Lee Jung-hyun scored four points at the moment of crisis, Korea continued its tight race to 84-84. Ha Yoon-ki, who did something bad under the basket, made one of the two free throws with 0.9 seconds left on the day, giving Korea a thrilling victory.