Samsung hold off Sono 95-87 to go 9-0

Goyang Sono led 78-76 with 5:49 left in the fourth quarter. Then the Skygunners did not score for 2:54. The Seoul Samsung Thunders ran off 10 straight points and won 95-87 on Friday night at Goyang Sono Arena. The Thunders are 9-0.

Kerem Kanter scored 32 points on 11-of-17 shooting, with eight free throws and 12 rebounds. David James Jr scored 33 for Sono and had 13 rebounds. It was not enough. Sono are 4-6 and have lost two in a row.

First quarter: Samsung's threes

Sono led 7-5 with 8:04 left in the quarter. Samsung then hit three threes in a row. Lee Gwan-hee made two of them, at 7:49 and 7:16, and Han Ho-bin made the third at 6:37. That was a 9-0 run, from 7-5 down to 14-7 up, and Samsung led 32-26 after the quarter.

Lee Gwan-hee finished with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, 3 of 3 from three.

Second quarter: the lead reaches 14

Samsung outscored Sono 24-20 in the quarter. An 8-0 run early in it, made of a Lee Geun-hwi three, a Christopher McCullough dunk and free throw, and two Kanter free throws, made it 40-29. Samsung's lead reached 14, at 49-35, with 4:47 left.

Sono answered with a 9-0 run of its own and cut it to 49-44 at 3:15. Samsung led 56-46 at halftime.

Third quarter: Sono come back

Sono won the third quarter 23-14. Lee Jung-hyun and James did most of the scoring, and Lee Jung-hyun made a three at 9:22 and free throws at 6:00. James finished the quarter with a dunk at 0:14. Samsung led 70-69 after three quarters.

Fourth quarter: Samsung finish it

Lee Jung-hyun made a basket at 9:25 to put Sono ahead 71-70, Sono's first lead since the first quarter. Kanter answered at 9:00, and the game traded baskets until Lee Jung-hyun's three at 5:49 gave Sono a 78-76 lead.

It was Sono's last lead. Kanter tied it at 78 at 5:28. Justin Gutang hit a three at 4:59, and Lee Kyu-tae hit another at 4:21. Lee Gwan-hee scored at 3:21, and it was 86-78. Sono did not score from 5:49 until James made a basket at 2:55.

Lee Kyu-tae made a three at 0:31 to make it 91-82. Han Ho-bin made two free throws at 0:16 and Kanter made two at 0:09. Sono's last points were a three by Lee Jae-do at 0:11 and a James dunk at 0:03.

The numbers

Samsung shot 34 of 60 overall and 11 of 22 from three. Sono shot 31 of 73 and 10 of 38 from three, 26.3%. Samsung made 16 of 18 free throws and Sono 15 of 18. Samsung won the rebounding 37-26. Samsung had 19 turnovers to Sono's 13. Samsung had 18 assists to Sono's 15.

McCullough scored 15 off the bench with 10 rebounds, three steals and five of five at the line. Gutang scored 11 with seven assists, and Han Ho-bin had eight assists. For Sono, Lee Jung-hyun scored 22 on 7-of-18 shooting, and Lee Jae-do made three of his seven threes.

The crowd was 3,461.

What is next

Samsung host second-place SK on Sunday, November 1, at 4:30 p.m. KST at Jamsil Student Gymnasium. Sono host KT the same day at 2 p.m.

Samsung's previous game before this one was a 76-68 win at Korea Gas, which put them at 8-0.

Scoring

Samsung: Kerem Kanter 32, Lee Gwan-hee 18, Christopher McCullough 15, Justin Gutang 11, Lee Kyu-tae 8, Lee Geun-hwi 6, Han Ho-bin 5, Choi Seong-mo 0.

Sono: David James Jr 33, Lee Jung-hyun 22, Lee Jae-do 9, Johnny O'Bryant III 7, Jeong Hee-jae 6, Karl Quiambao 6, Kim Jin-yoo 4, Lim Dong-seop 0, Jo S-h 0, Lee Geun-joon 0.

By quarter: Samsung 32, 24, 14, 25. Sono 26, 20, 23, 18.