TIANJIN: Hardly had the wound it inflicted seven years ago healed when South Korea again scraped it open.
And this time, it wasn’t a buzzer-beating three-point shot but a fast break layup that did the damage.
The specter of a painful loss seven years ago came back to haunt the Philippines after Yang Dong-Geun scored with 1.7 seconds remaining to lift South Korea to an exhilarating 82-80 victory and a seventh place finish in the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship here.
The RP team settled for eighth spot, one rung higher than their predecessors in Tokushima two years ago and one lower than the 1991 RP team that finished seventh in the Asian Basketball Confederation Men’s Championship in Kobe, Japan .
The distant past was eerily recalled by the closing second events.
In 2002, during the semifinal game against South Korea in the Busan Asian Games, Lee Sang-Min buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to beat the buzzer and hand the Philippines its worst loss ever, 63-62.
The stakes weren’t as high as before and the weapon that slew the Nationals not a bullet fired from long range. But the outcome was the same: an RP team reduced to tears at the end of the game.
With the ball with 18.3 seconds left and the score tied 80-all, the Nationals took three successive attempts - a short jumper by Kerby Raymundo and from pointblank by Jared Dillinger and Sonny Thoss - but missed all.
South Korea took control of the rebound and Yang, racing against the game clock, banked in a scooping fast break layup with RP defenders all over him to put them in front, 82-80, a little less than two seconds left.
