Philippines vs South Korea: Basketball History

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Philippines vs South Korea: Basketball History

When it comes to bringing tears to the eyes of Filipino fans, the most dramatic Koreanovelas have nothing on the South Korean national basketball team.

South Korea has been responsible for the most pain for the Philippine team when it comes to international basketball. The Philippines has not won against South Korea in a high-level basketball match since the 1985 Asian Basketball Championship.

South Korea defeated Philippine team in 1986 Asian Games, 1987 Asian Basketball Confederation Championship, 1998 Asian Games, 2002 Asian Games, 2009 FIBA Asia Championship, 2010 Asian Games and the most recent is the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship.

In the bronze medal match of 2011 FIBA Asia Championship, SMART-Gilas finally seemed poised to end the South Korean curse. Behind Marcus Douthit, who finished with 27 points and 22 rebounds, and Jimmy Alapag, who had 17 points on five three-pointers, Gilas took a 59-50 advantage with 4:53 left in the third quarter.

But South Korea went on a 17-6 run capped by a three-pointer by naturalized forward TJ Moon to take a 67-65 lead with 47 seconds left.

Douthit was fouled with 38 seconds left, but only managed a split from the line to cut the Korean lead down to 67-66.

Gilas was able to win possession off Douthit’s miss, but Kelly Williams missed both of his free throw attempts after being fouled with 26.5 seconds left.

Cho Sung-min, who finished with 20 points, hit two free throws for South Korea to push its lead to 69-66. Gilas drew up another play for Douthit who was fouled, but he could only make one of two shots to cut the deficit to 69-67.

Marcio Lassiter grabbed the offensive rebound on the miss and was fouled, but he could only manage a split.

Gilas sent Cho to the line once more, and this time the South Korean shooter also missed a free throw. With time running out, JVee Casio dribbled to the three-point line for a desperation attempt at the buzzer that didn’t draw iron, sealing the defeat for Gilas.

The Philippines will have a shot at redemption on Saturday night when it takes on South Korea in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship. Can they finally end the Korean curse?