A DAY after seeing its win streak end with its loss to the Philippines, South Korea recovered to beat Chinese Taipei, 75-57, in the bronze medal match of the 27th Fiba Asia Championship at the SM Mall of Asia Arena yesterday.
The masterful rout of Chinese Taipei gave the Koreans a third-place finish and more importantly a spot to the 2014 Fiba World Cup in Spain.
Sweet-shooting Mingoo Kim came off the bench to lead the Koreans with 21 points spiked by a 5-of-10 clip from beyond the arc. He also had four rebounds, three assists, one steal and a block.
The South Koreans banked on a strong start to bury Chinese Taipei early as they took a 50-29 lead at the turn.
The Taiwanese kept in step with South Korea in the second half but the early lead was too much to overcome.
South Korea simply had too much firepower and they took advantage of this by shooting 11-of-24 from the three-point area. Chinese Taipei shot only 5-of-20 from the same area.
Chinese Taipei was led by the 13 points of Cheng-Ju Lu and the 12 of naturalized player Quincy Davis III.
South Korea was relegated to the battle-for-third game after losing to the Gilas Pilipinas, 86-79, in the semifinals last Saturday. Chinese Taipei got crushed by the mighty Iran squad, 79-60, in the other semis pairing.