South Korea breezed past Jordan 114-80 to reach the semifinals of the men’s basketball tournament at the Asian Games in Japan on Wednesday, moving within two wins of claiming its first gold medal in a dozen years.
South Korea dominated Jordan in all aspects in the blowout quarterfinal victory at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, central Japan, where forward Lee Hyun-jung led the way with 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting in just under 21 minutes of action. He drained six 3-pointers in 10 attempts and also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Coached by Nikolajs Mazurs, South Korea has now won four straight games in Nagoya, having run the table in the preliminary phase with wins over Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Japan.
In Friday‘s semifinals, South Korea will face the winner of the Iran-Bahrain contest set for Wednesday afternoon.
South Korea last won the men’s hoops gold medal in 2014 on its home soil of Incheon. South Korea then settled for bronze in 2018 before getting eliminated in the quarterfinals in 2023. (Yonhap)
