By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
South Korea was in command against Ivory Coast en route to the 80-71 victory in 2019 FIBA World Cup Group M action at Guangzhou on Sunday. The impressive display only secured the Asian’s side first World Cup win in 25 years, not a chance for an Olympic qualifiers berth.
Guna Ra aka Ricardo Ratliffe led the way with a 26-point, 16-rebound double-double, Heo Hoon followed with 16 points including four shots beyond the arc.
Park Chan-Hee poured 14 points of his own. “Some of our guys were injured, but we wanted our first win in 25 years” he said in the post-game press conference.
“I appreciate all the players that worked really hard for the win” added head coach Kim Sang Shik. “Everything about this tournament was hard for us.”
Paolo Povia’s national team fell well behind from the first quarter and failed to recover up to the final minutes. Charles Abouo landed a team-high 15 points without being able to keep Ivory Coast in the game.
“The second quarter was tough, we fell behind, but we were not at 100% for the whole first half” pointed out the 40-year-old head coach. “Our main focus was playing our basketball, which did not occur against South Korea.”
“We wanted to be the top African team” mentioned Vafessa Fofana after closing out the World Cup with 5 points in 25:27. “I am mad about this, but that is basketball.”
The prevailing side wrapped up the World Cup with a 1-4 W-L tally dropping opposition to 0-5.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL