S. Korea handily beats Mongolia for 2nd straight men's hoops win

Defending champion South Korea breezed past Mongolia 108-73 for its second straight victory in men's basketball at the Asian Games on Thursday. Ricardo Ratliffe (203-F-89, college: Missouri), a U.S.-born player who acquired his South Korean citizenship in January this year, scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while only playing in the first half of the Group A game at GBK Basketball Hall. Forward Heo Il-Young (197-F-85) had 17 of his game-high 20 points in the opening quarter alone while making six three-pointers. South Korea improved to 2-0 and is in the driver's seat for a spot in the quarterfinals as one of the top two seeds in the group. South Korea, which blew out Indonesia 104-65 on Tuesday, will close out the preliminary round against Thailand on Wednesday. The opening ceremony for the Asian Games is Saturday, but group stage matches in basketball, football and handball began last week for scheduling reasons. The score was tied at 12-12 with 5:39 left in the first quarter, and then South Korea went on a 14-0 run over the next five minutes, with Heo draining three treys in that stretch. It was 26-15 for South Korea after the opening 12 minutes. Then with Heo resting on the bench in the second quarter, Ratliffe took over in the low post, as he poured in 17 points to help South Korea outscore Mongolia 30-17 in the frame. Mongolia outscored South Korea 24-23 in the third quarter, with a combination of sharp three-point shooting and South Korean offensive woes, but it wasn't nearly enough to turn the tide. South Korea was still in cruise control in the fourth quarter, with Jeon Jun-beom going 4-for-4 from downtown. There are three groups of four and one group of two in the tournament. The top two teams from each will reach the quarterfinals, though Group B only consists of Iran and Syria and they're both assured of spots in the final eight. South Korean head coach Hur Jae managed to get all 12 players into action. And with a six-day layoff until the next game and only a limited amount of time allocated for official on-court practice, he'll have to get creative to keep his players sharp. "We'll only have 50 minutes a day on the floor, and so we'll have to hit the gym at the athletes' village the rest of the time," Hur said. "We can't use other training venues. So we'll have to find ways to keep working inside the athletes' village." If South Korea wins Group A, it will meet the runner-up from Group D, which may well be the Philippines. And they will get a major reinforcement in the form of an NBA player Jordan Clarkson (196-G-92, college: Missouri), a Filipino-American guard who has a career-scoring average of 14.1 points per game over four seasons. "He could give them a jolt and it will put us at a disadvantage," the Korean coach said. "But we'll still prepare hard for that possible matchup and try to get the result that we want." Heo Il-young, the sharp-shooting forward, shrugged off the news of Clarkson's arrival in Jakarta. "He will be dangerous, but basketball isn't a one-on-one game," he said. "I think if we just play our game and not worry about other things, we should have our chance."
Courtesy of: yonhapnews.co.kr