“We are that team. We’re not an underdog. You’re not an underdog when you play a lot, and you’re an underdog when you don’t play well.”
Goyang Sono defeated Busan KCC 79-69 in an away game of the 2024-2025 KCC Pro Basketball League at Busan Sajik Gymnasium on Nov. 23 to open the season with two straight wins. KCC lost its second straight game after one win.
It was a close game until the first half. SONO, eos파워볼 with Lee Jae-do back in the lineup, led 45-42 at halftime.
SONO scored seven straight points to open up a 10-point lead at the start of the third quarter, but KCC was unable to completely shake off the lead. At the start of the fourth quarter, they were down by one point, 59-58.
That’s when Lee Jae-do, the hero of the game, stepped up to the plate. Alan Williams also contributed to the run.
KCC lost momentum when Dionte Burton picked up an offensive foul and a technical foul with 2:46 left in the game and was ejected for five fouls.
Head Coach Kim Seung-ki Sono
Final thoughts.
I told the players that if the shots don’t go in, it could be a close game. That’s exactly what happened. Our shots (6-of-27 from three-point range) were not falling. I told them that if we play defense like we talked about, we can win, so I’m glad we won. We had a tough game because our shots didn’t go in. Lee Jae-do (28 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 steals) came up big for us. Kim Jin-yu (2 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks) also did his job.
We gave (the players) confidence that if our shots go in, we can win by 20 points, and if they don’t go in, we can win by a small margin if we play defense, and that’s what we’re doing. That’s the kind of team we are. We’re not an underdog. You’re not an underdog when you’re playing a lot, and you’re an underdog when you’re not playing well.
Lee Jung-hyun (14 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists) struggled because he was blocked by Kim Dong-hyun.
Because Donghyun is so strong, Junghyun was pushed out of the way. In the game against Hyundai Mobis, we won because we didn’t get pushed around, but when we got pushed around, we were forced to make mistakes and didn’t play our own game. It was a good experience. I think Donghyun did too well, too (laughs).
Do you think Lee can reach a season average of 25 points?
I’m trying to get up to 25 points. That’s the goal, it’s not easy. A 25-point average would be great. Some games you have to score a lot of points because you play a game like today. It’s not easy to average that many points. I’m trying to make it, but it’s not easy when you play a game like today. We’ll get through it. Do you think other teams will give us 25 points? They’ll try to keep it in the 10s.
I think Kim Dong-hyun’s development must have been complicated.
I thought we had to win today’s match. If we lost today, we would be demoralized after playing well against Hyundai Mobis, and it would affect our next match, so we wanted to win. I don’t feel bad because my son played hard. We won and he did well, so it’s what my wife wanted (laughs).
On the reason for the slump after the match against Hyundai Mobis
KCC is not an easy team for our defense. We play a throwaway defense, and it’s not easy when shots go up. Jung Chang-young and Kim Dong-hyun, who played our discard defense, made all their shots. In the second half, (KCC’s outside shots) didn’t go in. We didn’t make shots, but we won because they scored under the basket and Jae-do scored. You can’t always play well or badly. If the shots didn’t go in, it would have been easy, but there are days like this. When we win a game like this, I think it makes the team stronger.
KCC Director Changjin Jeon
Summary
It was a physical burden in the fourth quarter because we didn’t have the ball. Burton has to do his part, but it didn’t work out today (23rd). We fought well, but the problem with our defense was revealed in the last game and this game as well.
Will it be solved when Song Kyo-chang and Choi Jun-yong come back, or is it Burton’s dilemma?
(There is a dilemma). They attack intensively, and we have to rotate, so it’s a lot of physical exertion. We expect a lot from Burton in the offense, and today he didn’t do that at all.