Day 8 of the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship in Hamburg, Germany. 09/07/2010, qualification round place 9-12.
HAMBURG (FIBA U17 World Championship) – Argentina beat Korea 90-77 in the first game of the Classification Round on Friday.
The result means the Koreans are still without a win in six games in the tournament. However, this defeat did not compare with the five they suffered in the Preliminary Round.
Seung Hwan Kim’s men pushed their opponents for the entire first half, thanks to some accurate three-point shooting (six of 12).
Argentina took a 39-32 lead at the break thanks to their great job of controlling the paint and winning the rebounding battle.
Korea fought from behind throughout the second half, but could never get quite close enough. For the first time in the tournament, they did not display their usual fast pace of play throughout the entire game and instead resorted to a more European style of play.
Argentina won despite a poor free-throw shooting (they missed 12 of 21 attempts) effort. They were in firm control for most of the game and now will look to secure ninth place over the weekend.
Quotes:
Kiyong Kim, Korean assistant coach: “Thanks for a really good game with Argentina. Korean basketball aims to improve from the things we have learnt here and we certainly will be back at the World Championship.”
Enrique Tolcachier, Argentina head coach: “For us it was important to bounce back from the disappointment of three successive defeats. We are happy again.”
Han Sanggyeok, Korea number 6: “Playing Argentina and all the other teams was a really good experience for us. Argentina played well, especially in defence. We will learn and do better in future.”
Valentin Marchisio, Argentina number 6: “We respected Korea because we knew that they always fight for the ball, they are always looking to attack the basket and play hard defense.”
FIBA / JB