▲ Lee Dae-sung of South Korea (R) tries to drive past Lukas Lekavicius of Lithuania during the teams' Group A match in the FIBA Olympic men's basketball qualifying tournament at Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania, on July 1, 2021, in this photo provided by FIBA. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
▲ Ra Gun-a of South Korea (R) dribbles into the body of Gytis Masiulis of Lithuania during the teams' Group A match in the FIBA Olympic men's basketball qualifying tournament at Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania, on July 1, 2021, in this photo provided by FIBA. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
▲ Byeon Jun-hyeong of South Korea (L) tries to score over Mantas Kalnietis of Lithuania during the teams' Group A match in the FIBA Olympic men's basketball qualifying tournament at Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania, on July 1, 2021, in this photo provided by FIBA. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

basketball-Olympics

S. Korea crashes out of Olympic basketball qualifying tournament

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, July 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's dream of playing in the Olympic men's basketball tournament has crashed and burned following a second straight loss in a qualifying tournament.

South Korea dropped to Lithuania 96-57 in its second game of the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament at Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania, on Thursday (local time).

That loss eliminated South Korea from the last-chance qualifying event, as Lithuania and Venezuela, which beat South Korea 94-80 on Wednesday, advanced to the next phase.

These three countries were in Group A in Kaunas. Group B had Poland, Slovenia and Angola. In the semifinals on Saturday, Lithuania will take on Poland, and Venezuela will face Slovenia. Only the final winner will punch a ticket to the July 23-Aug. 8 Tokyo Olympics.

South Korea's last Olympic appearance in men's hoops came in 1996 in Atlanta.

Naturalized center Ra Gun-a led all scorers with 26 points in the losing effort, but Davidson forward Lee Hyun-jung was the only other South Korean to score in double figures with 11.

For Lithuania, Memphis Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 13 boards in just 16:48 of action. Fellow NBA player, Domantas Sabonis of the Indiana Pacers, had nine points and 10 rebounds while playing just under 23 minutes.

South Korea, ranked 30th, stayed close with eighth-ranked Lithuania in the early going. With Ra scoring the team's first eight points, it was only 12-10 for Lithuania about six minutes into the game.

The Europeans took over from there, putting together a 16-2 run to blow the game open.

Lithuania then took a 49-34 lead into the second half, and held South Korea to just nine points in the third quarter to all but determine the outcome of the game.

Lithuania out-rebounded South Korea 53-26, and held the opponents to a 36.8 percent shooting from the field. Lithuania scored 52 points in the paint, compared to 28 by South Korea.

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