Wonju Dongbu had a merry Christmas with a 72-66 win over the Goyang Orions on Sunday and a sweep of two weekend games.
On Sunday, center Rod Benson led Wonju to victory with 25 points and 19 rebounds, delighting the crowd of more than 3,000 at the Wonju gymnasium in Gangwon Province.
Up 40-35 in the third quarter, substitute guard Hwang Jin-won hit a clutch three-pointer, part of his 18 points on the day. Forwards Kim Joo-sung and Yoon Ho-young added 20 points and 11 rebounds.
The Wonju side also beat the Seoul Samsung Thunders 85-72 at its home on Saturday.
Having completed a weekend sweep, Dongbu now stands atop the league table up 1.5 games over Anyang KGC.
KGC also scored a comfortable 80-63 victory over Seoul SK Knights on Sunday to extend its record run of consecutive wins to eight.
Dongbu forward Kim Joo-sung takes a shot against the Orions on Sunday. (Yonhap News)
Guard Lee Jung-hyun had 18 points, putting up 12 in the final quarter alone, and forward Yang Hee-jong added 13 points.
Now with the 2011-2012 season entering its second phase, the pecking order of the KBL is dominated by these two teams.
As of Monday, Dongbu has a 25-6 win-loss record, with the runner-up KGC running closely behind at 23-7. Third-placed KT Sonicboom trails at 19-11.
Dongbu’s 2.07-meter center Benson and 2.05-meter forward Kim Joo-sung are arguably the league’s best double-post offense due. With the help of 1.97-meter forward Yoon, the team won eight consecutive games in October, but struggled in November after first-string guard Park Ji-hyon was sidelined with an injured shoulder.
The team, however, has returned to its winning streak thanks to inspired guard Ahn Jae-wook. The second-year guard has not only successfully filled Park’s void, but reconfigured the team’s offense, as he scored 22 points against SK on Thursday, and added 23 points on Saturday.
Anyang KGC is essentially the same team as last year with one major exception: rookie center Oh Se-keun. The 2.12-meter center has changed the team’s interior attack and averaged 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in his first year.
After the team’s victory Sunday, KGC head coach Lee Sang-beom was careful to keep the team’s expectations low, saying there were a lot of games still to be played this season.
“But one big difference from last year is everybody on the team enjoys the game, and I really want to see how far we can go in the league,” Lee said.
By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldm.com)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
