(LEAD) (Asiad) S. Korea hammers Indonesia in men's basketball, reaches quarterfinals

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with latest results in paras 4-5, 7; ADDS quotes at bottom)
By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea routed Indonesia 102-48 for its second straight victory in men's basketball at the 20th Asian Games in Japan on Friday and later clinched a knockout berth thanks to Japan's win over Saudi Arabia in the nightcap.

Forward Lee Hyun-jung scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in a dominant third quarter for South Korea at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, central Japan.

South Korea opened its Group A play with an 82-66 win over Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

South Korea will close out the opening round against the home team Japan at 7 p.m. Sunday at the same Aichi venue, with the top seed in Group A on the line.

Japan opened its competition with a 98-53 rout of Indonesia on Thursday and then held off Saudi Arabia 86-80 on Friday.

A dozen nations have been divided into three groups of four. The top two nations from each group and the two best third-place teams will progress to the quarterfinals.

With their two straight victories, South Korea and Japan have both secured tickets to the quarterfinals as the top two spots in Group A.

The opening ceremony for the Asian Games is Sept. 19, but the men's basketball competition began Thursday. The gold medal game is set for Sept. 20.

Indonesia scored the game's first five points, but then South Korea responded with a 10-0 run. Yu Ki-sang's consecutive three-pointers in the late moments gave South Korea an 18-10 lead after the opening frame.

The teams traded runs in the second quarter. Lee Woo-suk's three-pointer midway through put South Korea up 32-20, but Indonesia hung around and got it to 39-30 at the end of the first half.

The third quarter, though, belonged to the South Koreans, as they opened the second half with 10 straight points -- all of them by Lee Hyun-jung with a trio of three-pointers and a free throw.

South Korea went 12-of-16 from the field in the third quarter, including four of six attempts from downtown, to take a commanding 70-41 lead.

After managing just eight points in the fourth quarter of Thursday's game, South Korea kept piling on in the final frame this time.

With backups Moon Yu-hyeon and Daniel Edi joining the scoring party, South Korea doubled up Indonesia 91-45 with 3:13 left, with Moon's bucket with 42.2 ticks left helping South Korea reach the century mark.

South Korea outscored Indonesia 63-18 in the second half.

Along with his 24 points, Lee Hyun-jung led the team with 10 rebounds. Yu contributed 21 points -- all of them coming from the three-point range.

South Korea head coach Nikolajs Mazurs praised his players for competing for the full 40 minutes "at high intensity," instead of taking it easy with a big lead in the final quarter.

"Every player understands that they need to play until the end. They cannot stop playing in the third quarter because every opponent will keep attacking and trying to score," he said. "We tried to play disciplined defense, apply pressure on the ball and focus on the fundamentals. Offensively, we wanted to find our pace and flow, and move the ball much better. We had 31 assists today, and I think the players enjoyed the game."