KCC, With Its First ‘All-Star Squad’ Defeated Korea Gas Corporation
Busan KCC, one of the strong candidates for the upcoming 2023-2024 season, has finally launched the “All-Star Squad” through the Cup. It’s a brilliant scene that makes it hard to divide the best five. Although their hands and feet are not properly matched yet, and their condition for each player was not intact, they nevertheless exuded enormous power.
In the first Group B preliminary match of the 2023 MG Saemaul Geumgo KBL Cup held at Gunsan Wolmyeong Gymnasium on the 9th, KCC won 98-78 with the performance of Choi Joon-yong, who scored a double-double (26 points, 10 rebounds) against Daegu Korea Gas Corporation. Choi Joon-yong, who joined KCC as a free agent last summer, presented great joy to Gunsan’s basketball fans by showing his unique cheerful movement and showmanship. He seemed to have fully recovered from the injury he suffered at the end of last season.
KCC, which moved to Busan, operated the “Complete Squad” for the first time on that day. Choi Jun-yong, who completely shook off his injury, Lee Seung-hyun and Ra Gun-ah, who participated in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. And Heo Woong, Jung Chang-young, and newly recruited foreign player Alize DeShawn Johnson all appeared on the court.
Lee Ho-hyun, Heo Woong, Choi Joon-yong, and Lee Seung-hyun Johnson came out as starting players in the first quarter. Coach Jeon Chang-jin did not change players much in the first quarter. He kept the starting member almost the same, and made Jung Chang-young run for 2 minutes and 56 seconds instead of Choi Joon-yong. However, the score gap widened to 29-13. Johnson scored 18 points, including a dunk and two three-pointers. Lee Ho-hyun and Choi Jun-yong also scored five points each. Korea Gas Corporation struggled without a goal for about three minutes. Overall, I didn’t have a good shot sense. In particular, No. 1 foreign player Isaiah Hicks left due to an injury shortly after the start of the game, and the tactics prepared by acting coach Kang Hyuk did not work properly.
Coach Jeon deployed several players from the second quarter to expand his tactical operation. Johnson and Lee Seung-hyun, who played all 10 minutes in the first quarter, were left out, and Ra Gun-ah was in charge of all 10 minutes in the second quarter. Song Dong-hoon, Jung Chang-young, and Lee Geun-hwi formed a new squad to play faster basketball. Korea Gas Corporation also fought back in the second quarter with Lee Dae-heon and Bellangel at the forefront. The second quarter was a tight 24-24. 토토
KCC, which finished with a 53-37 lead in the first half, used the first quarter starting squad again in the third quarter. While Johnson and Lee Seung-hyun’s twin towers focused on more defensive aspects, Heo Woong, who had only scored no points in the first half, scored eight points to regain vitality. Choi Joon-yong also scored eight points and four rebounds, including a dunk shot. KCC, who clearly took the lead, completed the 20-point victory without giving up a single lead. Choi Joon-yong played the role of a mastermind with a double-double (26 points, 10 rebounds), and Johnson also scored 18 points and seven rebounds. Heo Woong (12 points), Lee Ho-hyun (10 points), and Lee Keun-hwi (11 points) also scored double-digit points.
Korea Gas Corporation played well with 12 points and seven rebounds, with Anthony Morse (19 points, 15 rebounds) scoring a double-double and Park Bong-jin hitting four three-point shots, but suffered its first loss as it failed to overcome Hicks’ injury gap.