KTF Evens KBL Championship Series at 3 Games Apiece

The arena was as hot as a furnace.

7,214 fans, including 1,371 in standing-room only seating, were packed into the gymnasium. While Mobis supporters were holding up their red placards high, KTF fans opposite were waving orange-colored balloons, chanting and singing all the time.

In the match, KTF thwarted Mobis’ attempt to clinch the champion’s trophy. The final winner of the best-of-seven series will be decided in a Game 7.

In Game 6 of the Korean Basketball League championship series held on April 29 at Dongcheon Gynmasium in Ulsan, KTF defeated Mobis 74-66 thanks to the brilliant performance of Shin Ki-sung (16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) and Aaron McGhee (23 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists).

Although KTF was once on the brink of losing the series with one win and three losses, it managed to level the game score to 3-3. It is the first time in KBL championship history that a team losing 1-3 has brought a series to a Game 7.

Shin Ki-sung played the role of a conductor, controlling the tempo of his team’s offense and defense. He said, “Since we have made it to the final stage, we want to win and make it complete. I and my teammates have promised to dedicate the champion’s trophy to Cho Sung-min’s parents who passed away in a car accident last year.”

Meanwhile, McGhee, who has often spoiled games with excessive complaining against the referees, contributed to the victory by concentrating his efforts in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 points. Song Young-jin, the team’s power forward, who missed Game 5 due to an injury to his waist, added 13 points.

For Mobis, Yang Dong-keun underperformed, scoring only nine points throughout the game and none in the second and third quarters. He was likely conscious of his fiancée, Kim Jeong-mi, who was in attendance for the first time in the championship series this season. The couple is to marry on May 4.

Game 7, scheduled for 6 p.m. on May 1 in Ulsan, will decide the fate of both teams.

Until the third quarter, the two contenders were almost even as the score was tied six times. Midway through the fourth quarter, however, when KTF was losing by a point, Ricci, McGhee, and Song Young-jin scored six unanswered points. Then with a minute and 59 seconds in the game and only two seconds on the 24-second shot clock left, McGhee’s three-pointer swished through the rim. Then 30 seconds later, Shin Ki-sung scored again and KTF took a 72-61 lead. As if they had already won, some 500 KTF fans began to chant their theme song “Busan Gull,” while the coaching staff of Mobis called their key players Yang Dong-keun and Kim Dong-woo back to the bench to protect them from injury and prepare for the next match.

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