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JAKARTA - Once again, Korea breaks the hearts of Filipino basketball fans. The Koreans turned to their dreaded three-point shooting in the fourth period to break away from a tight game and claim a 91-82 victory that knocked the Philippines out of the men's basketball competition of the 18th Asian Games at the Gelora Bung Karno basketball arena. Former PBA import Ricardo Ratliffe proved too much to handle, pouring in 30 points on top of 15 rebounds as he dominated every big man thrown at him by coach Yeng Guiao. But it was also the Koreans' outside shooting that broke the Philippines' back in the fourth as they hit five in the last 10 minutes to pull away. Korea jumped to an early 17-7 lead in the first period, capped by a four-point play by Heo Ilyoung off a foul by Jordan Clarkson, who missed his first five shots. The Philippines responded with an 8-0 run to cut it to two with three minutes left in the first period, which ended with Korea nursing a 22-18 advantage. A triple by Paul Lee with 7:50 left in the second, the first basket by either team in the quarter, cut the Korea deficit to just one, before a jumper by Clarkson gave the Philippines its first lead of the game, 25-24, with 6:29 to go in the first half. They extended the lead to six, 37-31, on back-to-back baskets by Christian Standhardinger and a tip-in by Beau Belga with 3:40 left.  The lead was still six at 44-38 after Stanley Pringle hit a corner three with 1:40 left before Korea scored four unanswered points to come within two at halftime. Standhardinger, Clarkson and Pringle scored a basket each to open the third period to establish an eight-point lead for the Philippines, their largest at that point. But Korea came right back with a 7-0 run to come to within one at 54-53 with 4:58 left. The teams exchanged baskets for the rest of the period, and after Korea inched ahead at 64-62, Clarkson ended the third with a triple to give the Philippines a 65-64 lead heading into the last quarter. Just like in the game against China, Clarkson came to life in the third, hitting 15 points including three triples after going 2 for 12 in the first half. Korea went ahead 72-68 with seven minutes to go on a triple by Heo Ilyoung as the Philippines lapsed into a maze of bad passes and missed shots. They extended it to 83-74 on a three-point play by Kim with 3:56 left and the Philippines was not able to recover. Clarkson finished with 25 points while Standhardinger chipped in 16. Korea moves on to face Iran while the Philippines is relegated to the consolation pool and will face Japan. The Philippines has a chance to surpass the seventh-place finish four years ago in Incheon.
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