Korea joins Australia and New Zealand at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019

BUSAN (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - Korea has become the third team from the Asian Qualifiers to punch their tickets to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 after beating Jordan,  88-67.

Playing in front of a boisterous home crowd for the second straight time in four days, the Koreans started off strong in each of the four quarters to ensure that Jordan was reduced to playing catch up the entire time.

Korea center RA GunA, who leads all players in the Asian Qualifiers in efficiency, rebounds and points, had a relatively modest first half before he turned it on in the last 20 minutes. The remarkably consistent Ra finished with a monster 16 rebounds, 13 points, 2 assists, 1 steal and a block to get his sixth double double in the eight Asian Qualifiers games he has played so far.

Meanwhile the Jordan 'Falcons' were coming into this game on the back of a demoralizing away loss to New Zealand in Christchurch.  But the side was bolstered by the return of 6ft 3in (1.90m) shooting guard Dar Tucker who has been averaging 20.4 points per game, second only to Ra. 

With Tucker's return, it was expected that these two offensively gifted sides (Korea is 2nd overall in points per game, while Jordan is third), would come up with a high scoring contest.

However, the first three quarters turned out to be cagey affairs. Korea kept building early leads only to see Jordan bounce back by the end of each period.

The teams were within single digits at the start of the fourth quarter, when Korea finally broke free, going on a massive 24-3 run to close out the win.

Jordan struggled mightily from the beyond the arc, shooting just 8.7%, which proved to be the key difference between the two teams in an otherwise fairly balanced match up.

In the upcoming sixth and final window in February 2019, Korea will face Syria and Lebanon, while Jordan will be up against China and New Zealand.

FIBA