In the best game of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament so far, Korea beat Mozambique 71-65 in Ankara.
Sin J was the MVP with an amazing display finishing the game with a double-double (25 points and 11 rebounds) and Beon (16 points) lead the Korean way.
For Mozambique, forward Dongue was the best player with 16 points and 10 boards but it wasn’t enough.
Korea biggest lead was obtained in the last quarter when they claimed an eleven point lead that made a separation that Mozambique could never come back.
The game started with an aggressive pace on offense, both teams running and shooting very well from outside, especially from 3 point which lead to a high score after the first quarter that ended in a tie (19-19)
In the second quarter Mozambique made an 8-2 run to start, but Korea answered and contained the African team changing to a zone defence. The game continued with a face offense, with a lot of run and gun by the two teams to end the half with Mozambique leading by two (37-35).
Starting the third quarter, Korea extended their defence to full court which created a lot of troubles for the African team. Both teams didn’t execute well on offense, with a lot of inconsistent shots but Korea had advantage because of Mozambique’s early foul trouble and they took the lead for the first time in the game since the first quarter with 3 minutes remaining (48-45).
Korea finished these 10 minutes in great style with a three at the buzzer to give them a 52-50 lead.
Coach Lee made some adjustments for the fourth quarter and Korea made an excellent run mainly on fast break opportunities to create an 11 point lead. With 1.37 remaining, Mozambique cut the lead to only 5 with a three-pointer but it wasn’t enough.
The veteran Center Sin J with only 15s in the game made a 3 point play after an offensive rebound to seal the deal and put a 71-65 on the scoreboard to end the game.
Mozambique were poor from the foul line (9-18) and their 25 turnovers were the main cause of this loss, mainly in the last quarter.
Korea with this win grabbed a spot in the next round of the qualifying but they still have a game against Croatia tomorrow at 14.30 (local time) to conclude this group stage.
