S. Korea overcome Clarkson challenge to enter basketball semis

AFP, Jakarta :
Defending champions South Korea overcame NBA star Jordan Clarkson’s Philippines in a hard-fought Asian Games basketball match in Jakarta on Monday.
US-born Ricardo Preston Ratliffe scored 30 points for South Korea as they won the quarter-finals encounter 91-82 to guarantee at least a bronze in 5×5 basketball.
Victory meant the South Korean basketball team kept up their supremacy in the regional Olympics over the Philippines, who last won against the Asian giants in the 1962 edition.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Clarkson – who joined his national side late after the US league released him in a last-minute U-turn – scored 25 points to keep the Philippines fighting, but South Korea took the game away in the final quarter.
Ratliffe told reporters South Korea had executed their game plan well despite Clarkson’s best efforts.
“I think he (Clarkson) did a great job especially in the first half. He did what he does best.