The Changwon LG won their fourth straight game, sending the Seoul SK to their third straight loss. Along with the wins and losses, the ratio of ‘transfer student forwards’ on both teams was also mixed.
LG defeated SK 69-50 in a home game of the 2023-2024 regular season at Changwon Gymnasium on Thursday.
After starting the season with three straight losses, LG rebounded with four straight wins.
SK (3-3), on the other hand, suffered their third straight loss despite the return of their leading scorer Jamil Warney from injury.
The game featured a good mix of international forwards who have changed teams since the end of last season.
In his first game in an SK uniform since leaving defending champion Anyang’s Chung Kwan-jang, Oh struggled mightily as the best big man in Korea.
Playing about 23 minutes, Oh missed all six of his field goals and scored just one point.
On the other hand, Yang Hong-seok, who mostly matched up with Osegun under the basket instead of playing his usual position as an outside shooter, did his part with 10 points and five rebounds.
Yang, who played for Suwon KT until last season, helped LG pull away with a seven-point run in the third quarter, which was particularly crucial.
He proved why LG chose him by playing good defense against Oh, who is bigger than him and didn’t lose the height battle.
For LG, foreign player Asem Marei paced SK with 16 points and 20 rebounds.
For SK, no one else scored in double figures except for Warney (22 points).
Last season’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Kim Sun-hyung also played 27 minutes, but managed just four points and two assists while committing three turnovers.
With the score at 18 points with just over seven minutes left in the game, SK head coach Jeon Hee-cheol made a last-ditch effort to bring in shooter Heo Il-young, but he was unable to close the gap.
Goyang Sono defeated Jeong Kwanjang 84-82 in a close game away from home.
The Sono were tied for last place with Daegu KOGAS (1-4) the day before, but managed to climb out of last place with their second win of the season (4-4).
Chung Kwan-jang, on the other hand, suffered their third loss of the season at home (2-2).
For SONO, ace Lee Jung-hyun spearheaded the offense with 19 points and eight assists.
Shooter Jeon Sung-hyun also scored 20 points on 5-of-5 shooting from three-point range.
Foreign players Diyonte Davis (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Choi Hyun-min (11 points, 7 rebounds) also contributed inside and out.
For Jung Kwan-jang, Park Ji-hoon led the way with 21 points and six assists.
Suwon KT (2-3) snapped a three-game losing streak by defeating Seoul Samsung (2-4) 90-87 on the road.
Trailing 39-38 at halftime, KT rebounded with a 30-point third quarter.
6-foot-9 center Kofi Coburn led the way for Samsung with nine points and six rebounds in the third quarter, but the rest of the team struggled to keep up with KT’s fast-paced offense, which featured a lot of passing.
Samsung managed to maintain a one-point lead with just over five minutes left in the game, racking up outside scoring off of Coburn’s perimeter offense to keep the game close.
However, they lost momentum as they missed five free throws with just over two minutes left in regulation, including a sloppy play by Kim Si-rae that resulted in her losing the ball on the final possession.
Coburn’s dominant performance under the basket with 39 points and 19 rebounds on his own was not enough to turn the game around.
KT was led by Kim Jun-hwan, who scored 18 points from inside and outside the arc. 파워볼사이트