RI lost to South Korea in ABC championship

JAKARTA (JP): South Korea's KIA Timor shattered local team Aspac's hopes of reaching the final after beating them 86-65 in the semifinals of the 8th Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) championship yesterday.

The competition features Asia's ten best clubs in a week-long tournament that ends today.

KIA Timor, led by its foreign player Clifford Aaron Reed, proved too strong for Aspac throughout the game.

KIA Timor's Reed and Justin Phoenix teamed well to break through KIA's defense for 46-30 halftime lead.

KIA Timor now meets Hong Kong's Regal in the tonight's final.

Aspac will play Japan's Izuzu Motors for the third and fourth places.

Spectators cheered KIA's slamdunks and impressive defense, even though the home team lost.

Aspac's foreign players, Boby Parks and Steve Mc Glothin, failed to combine well with the Indonesian players as they did up to the quaterfinals.

Kang Dong-hee, Bae Sung-woo and Jong Hoi-jo pressured Aspac's top scorer Park whenever he entered KIA Timor's defensive zone.

Malaysia's Petronas and Tong Whye came ninth and tenth respectively, while Uzbekistan's MHSK and Iran's Zob Ahan took seventh and eighth spot.

The Philippines' Tanduay Gold and China's Pla Hongshan came fifth and sixth respectively. (03)