“It was a play that only a superstar can make” (KCC head coach Jeon Chang-jin)
“That shot (Hwoong’s buzzer-beater) was lucky for KCC” (KT head coach Song Young-jin)
Busan KCC won 96-94 against Suwon KT in the sixth round of the 2023-2024 Korean Basketball League on Sunday at the Suwon KT Arena. With their second straight win, fifth-place KCC improved to 25-20 on the season. They cut their lead over fourth-place Seoul SK to two and a half games.
Heo Woong (185 cm, G) was the hero. He hit a three-point buzzer-beater in the final minute to come from behind. Ragan (199 cm, C) also had a big game with 18 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Lee Seung-hyun (F, 197 cm) fought to the end, not taking a second off the floor and finishing with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists, and one blocked shot. Alize DeShawn Johnson (201 cm, F), Ho-Hyun Lee (182 cm, G), and Chang-Young Jung (193 cm, F) also scored in double figures.
KCC head coach Jeon Chang-jin said after the game, “We won in such a dramatic way. The players stuck together. We recognized that the team was not in a good situation. We were mentally prepared before the game. We are playing a really tough schedule. No one is saying it’s hard. A win is a win, but it’s not easy to play more than 30 minutes in a schedule like this,” he said.
“The first credit goes to (Heo) Ung for scoring at the end. The unsung hero is (Lee) Seung-hyun. He played the whole 40 minutes. He led the way in defending the advantage. Ung and Seung-hyun played a very responsible role. We made a valuable victory. It’s a very important win for us. It can’t be compared to our last win against Sono. Even if we had lost that match, I wouldn’t have been too unhappy. I have a lot of praise for them, and personally, it was the most pleasant match of the 2023-2024 season,” he smiled.
KCC will continue to play an early offense. They need to work on their physical fitness.
“We can’t keep up this pace forever. The players showed a strong will. We talked to Ungi and decided to play like this. If (Song) Kyo-chang and (Choi) Jun-yong come in, we can increase our strengths. We’re just trying it out. (La) Gun-ah and Seung-hyun need to keep up the pace. Gun-ah also runs really hard. It’s unfortunate that we can’t connect the ball to her because she’s still running. With the No. 5 running, the front players can get easy baskets.”
“Paris Bass hit a three in front of our bench. It went in, and I looked at the time. There were 4.5 seconds left. Gunnar was running. I wanted it to go to him. Wong didn’t pass to Gun-ah to score like this. I was lucky. You have to have the mental strength to make a shot like that. It was a play that only a star can make,” he concluded the press conference.
KT, on the other hand, has lost three straight games. Second-place KT has a season record of 29 wins and 16 losses. They trail third-place Changwon LG by half a game.
Paris Bass (200 cm, F) led the way with 29 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Han Hee-won (194 cm, F) also contributed with 20 points, including four 3-pointers, one rebound and one assist. Ha Yoon-ki (204 cm, C) also fought to the end with 13 points, 17 rebounds, and three assists. Heo Hoon (180 cm, G) and Moon Jung-hyun (194 cm, F) also scored in double figures.
KT head coach Song Young-jin said after the game, “The players failed to score easy points right from the start. We missed the flow. It was a bad start. I’m sure the players 토토사이트 wanted to do well. Our fighting spirit before the game backfired, but the players played hard. We made them fight until the end. The rebounding battle at the end was a little disappointing.”
“When (Heo) Hoon plays the pick game, the opponent abandons the corner, and (Moon) Jung-hyun or (Moon) Sung-gon-i has a chance. Jeong Hyun-i was consistent. He helped us catch up. But I wanted him to execute the options I gave him in the middle of the game smoothly. We could have done better.”
Teams facing KT usually put either Moon Jeong-hyun or Moon Sung-gon (196 cm, F) on the baseline. It was the same throughout the 2023-2024 season.
“In our situation, we can’t go down to the three. Rebounding is important. So is defense. The guys who go to the 3 have to make more threes.
“I can’t blame them for allowing that last foul shot. We shouldn’t have given them that last shot. It was a matter of giving them room, and that shot was lucky for KCC. In this game, (Paris) Bass was in sync with the team. The coexistence of Bass and Hoon is a work in progress. It will get better in the future,” he concluded the press conference.