Taipei/Bengaluru, 16th July 2017: The Indian men’s basketball team lost to South Korea’s National Team 67-92 in their second game of the William Jones Cup 2017 in Taipei. The Indians matched the South Korean firepower initially and stuck close, ending the first quarter down 15 to 19. The second and third quarters, however, have proved to be tough terrain for India, as they stumbled and watched South Korea pull away.
There were bright spots for India despite the loss. The team outrebounded South Korea 34 to 29, which included 11 offensive rebounds. Youngster Muin Bek Hafeez put up a good all-round performance with 12 points, 4 assists and 5 rebounds. As many as four Indian players scored in double digits, led by veteran guard Anil Kumar’s 13 points.
India also had 10 fewer turnovers than their previous game and its two-point shooting percentage was respectable at 47%.
That said, South Korea was clearly superior, as the trigger happy side converted 19 of their 37 attempts from beyond the arc.
India will be hoping to bring it all together in its next game against Republic of China Blue on 17th July at 1900 hrs CST (1630 IST).
South Korea (Ung Heo 22 pts, Daesung Lee 16 pts, Lee Junghyun 12 pts) bt India (Anil Kumar BK Gowda 13 pts, Muin Bek Hafeez 12 pts 4 ast, Amjyot Singh Gill 10 pts, Prasanna Venkatesh Sivakumar 10 pts) 92–67 [19-15, 31-13, 29-20, 13-19]
