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NOVI SAD (FIBA U19 World Championship) - Korea were unable to advance through the eighth-final stages of the FIBA U19 World Championship but they went out with a bang after beating Turkey 104-96 on Wednesday.

The Koreans bettered their shooting all over the court from their defeat to Canada, the most significant improvement coming from the charity stripe, where they netted 28 of 35 (80%) compared to 50% last time out.

Turkey needed a win to guarantee qualification but paid for their profligacy, failing to make over 50% in any area, and their nine of 24 (37.5%) free-throws was especially wasteful compared to their opponents.

Though he could not do enough to grab the vital win, Oguen Sevinc finished as top points-scorer with 25, and racked up nine of those in the first quarter to briefly give his side the lead, although it was level at 24-24 going into the second period.

Changyoung Jung then sunk a lay-up to give Korea a lead they would keep throughout, and added five more points as his side took a 48-38 advantage at the break.

Turkey got back within a point thanks to Dogus Balbay's lay-up to make it 55-54 in the third period but Korea hit a 6-0 burst to pull away again.

They were never out of sight though and in the final period Turkey almost pulled off a comeback with a 13-3 scoring stretch to make it 85-82 with 5.31 on the clock.

A technical foul undid them though and Nuri Ham sunk four successive free throws plus a jump-shot and a tap-in to give Korea some breathing space.

Turkey pulled back to within five points at 98-93 with just over half a minute left, but failed to keep up the scoring and their opponents eased to victory.

FIBA