Magic Number '9' to win the regular league
Wonju DB defeated Seoul SK and reduced the magic number of regular league championship to 9.
DB beat SK 82-68 in the 2023-2024 professional basketball regular season home game held at Wonju Gymnasium on Wednesday. DB, which has 33 wins and 10 losses, has widened its gap with second-ranked Suwon KT (27 wins and 13 losses) to 4.5 games. If DB wins nine games in the remaining 11 games, it can confirm its regular league No. 1 ranking even if KT wins all 14 games. In contrast, SK, which ranks third, recorded 25 wins and 16 losses due to the loss, is trailing fourth-ranked Changwon LG (25 wins and 17 losses) by 0.5 games.
Leading 45-39 in the first half, DB widened its gap with SK in the second half by displaying even-handed attack power with five players scoring double-digit points. In games where the gap of 10 points or more has been maintained since the middle of the third quarter, DB unilaterally dominated the game to the extent that the gap widened to 23 points from 78-55 in the middle of the fourth quarter. SK used bench members early after the second half, with Jamil Warney playing for only 25 minutes and Oh Se-geun playing for only 22 minutes.
In the DB, Didric Lawson scored the most points in the team with 18 points. Kang Sang-jae was also sent off for five fouls, but he showed all-round performance with 12 points, nine rebounds, and six assists.
Samsung, which has been on the rise lately, won 73-60 at home against Anyang's Chunggwanjang. Samsung still remained at the bottom of the standings with 9-33 despite the win, but it started to kick off late with four wins and two losses in its last six games.
For Samsung, Coffey Coburn recorded a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Lee Jung-hyun also showed a close performance to a double-double with 10 points and 9 assists. Due to the defeat, Chung Kwan-jang was unable to escape from his recent seven consecutive losses and 14 consecutive away games.