The South Korean men's national basketball team, aiming to reclaim the Asian Games title for the first time in 12 years, has wrapped up its preliminary tune-up with a comfortable victory in a friendly match against the Philippines.

Coached by Nikolajs Mazurs, the South Korean squad defeated the Philippines 81-55 in the friendly held at the KT Sonicboom Arena in Suwon.

Mazurs, who took the helm late last year as the national team's first-ever foreign head coach, secured his first consecutive wins since taking office, bringing his overall record to 3 wins and 6 losses.

Having previously struggled through two separate three-game losing streaks, Mazurs' squad followed up their recent victory against Saudi Arabia in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers with another win today, achieving back-to-back victories for the first time since his appointment.

The Philippines, the defending Asian Games men's basketball champions ranked 39th in the FIBA rankings—higher than 57th-place South Korea—took to the court without a large portion of their core players, including naturalized athletes.

Among the players who kept their momentum going by defeating Jordan and Iran consecutively in the World Cup Asian Qualifiers late last month, only three traveled to South Korea for this away trip: Justine Baltazar, Justin Arana, and former KBL Rookie of the Year RJ Abarrientos.

In contrast, South Korea fielded its full-strength roster and seized the initiative early in the game, pulling ahead to a commanding 13-2 lead.

Lee Hyun-jung displayed dedicated play by grabbing 9 rebounds in the first quarter alone, while Lee Jeong-hyeon showcased a scorching shooting touch, pouring in 10 points including two 3-pointers.

Ending the first quarter ahead 24-18, South Korea widened the gap to 45-33 in the second quarter by combining Lee Hyun-jung's perimeter shots with Yeo Jun-seok's aggressive drives to the paint, comfortably wrapping up the first half.

In the second half, scoring went cold for both teams, leading to a somewhat stagnant flow.

South Korea failed to score for the first five minutes of the third quarter before Eddy Daniel finally put up the team's first points with a 2-pointer.

However, the Philippines repeatedly missed chances to close the gap, maintaining a 13-point margin at 57-44.

Amid the somewhat loosened atmosphere, Lee Jeong-hyeon injected energy by steadily accumulating points and even assisting on Yeo Jun-seok's alley-oop dunk late in the third quarter, fully playing the role of the ace.

Entering the final quarter with a 57-44 lead, Lee Jeong-hyeon's performance continued to shine.

Lee Jeong-hyeon dashed the Philippines' hopes of a comeback by sinking three consecutive 3-pointers.

Following successive scores by Lee Won-seok, South Korea pulled away to a 26-point lead at 79-53 with 1 minute and 49 seconds remaining in the game, securing victory early on.

On this day, Lee Jeong-hyeon spearheaded the victory by racking up 27 points, including 7 3-pointers.

Lee Hyun-jung took care of the dirty work with active participation in rebounding, but left a sense of regret by scoring only 6 points, making just 1 out of 10 attempts from beyond the arc.

(Photo: Yonhap News)