(Asiad) Iran stands in way as S. Korea chases 1st men's hoops gold in 12 yrs

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- The last time South Korea won the Asian Games gold medal in men's basketball, it defeated Iran in the final on its home soil of Incheon in 2014.

In the central Japanese city of Nagoya this week, South Korea will face Iran in the semifinals of the hoops tournament, sitting within two wins of recapturing the glory from a dozen years ago.

The two countries will renew their rivalry at 4 p.m. Friday at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya. The host country Japan and China will square off in the other semifinal match later Friday.

South Korea has lost to Iran in six consecutive matches since the 2014 victory. Two of those losses came at the 2018 and the 2023 Asian Games.

Coached by Nikolajs Mazurs, South Korea has won all four games it has played so far. It defeated Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Japan in succession in the group phase before routing Jordan 114-80 in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

Team captain Lee Seoung-hyun and leading scorer Lee Hyun-jung have both spoken about how the team is finally figuring out playing the type of basketball that Mazurs wants. The Latvian coach, who took the South Korean reins in December last year, suffered through some big losses in the months leading up to the Asian Games, including two blowouts against Japan in August. But he now has South Korea playing dogged defense and high-octane offense.

South Korea has reached the century mark in points in three straight games, a streak that no other country has managed at the tournament.

In four games so far, South Korea is averaging 99.5 points per game and is shooting 50 percent from the field.

Iran, on the other hand, has topped 80 points just once in four games so far and is averaging 71.3 points per game. The Middle East team is defined more by its tight defense, having held its opponents to 67.5 points per game. Iran has also allowed just 5.5 offensive rebounds to its opponents on average.

Mohammad Jamshidi is Iran's leading scorer, averaging 22.7 points per game on 60 percent shooting. He has also drained 46 percent of his three-pointers while taking 4.3 shots from behind the arc per game.

Veteran Arsalan Kazemi dished out 10 assists and grabbed 11 boards in the semifinals against Bahrain.

For South Korea, Davidson product Lee Hyun-jung is the tournament's second-leading scorer with an average of 22.8 points per game. He drained six treys in just 20 minutes of action against Jordan.

South Korea also welcomed back two key forwards in the quarterfinals. Seattle University player Yeo Jun-seok returned from a two-game injury absence, while veteran Choi Jun-yong joined the team this week after spending time in the United States in search of a professional contract there.