TIANJIN — It wasn’t a buzzer-beating three-point shot, but the game-winning basket by South Korea felt like a dagger in the back from not too long ago.

The ghost of a heartbreaking loss seven years ago came back to haunt the Philippines Sunday as South Korea’s Yang Dong-Geun scored on a fast break layup with 1.7 seconds left after Powerade-Team Pilipinas missed three straight attempts, lifting his team to an 82-80 victory and a seventh place finish in the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship here.

The Nationals settled for eighth spot, one rung higher than their predecessors in Tokushima two years ago and one lower than the 1991 RP team that finished seventh in the Asian Basketball Confederation Men’s Championship in Kobe, Japan.

Overall, the Nationals lost five of their nine games from the preliminaries but none this excruciating.

In 2002, during the semifinal game against South Korea in the Busan Asian Games, Lee Sang-Min buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to beat the buzzer and hand the Philippines its worst loss ever, 63-62.

The stakes weren’t as high this time and the weapon that slew the Nationals not a bullet fired from long range. But the outcome was the same: An RP team reduced to tears at the end of the game.

In possession with 18.3 seconds left and the score tied 80-all, the Nationals got off three successive attempts – a short jumper by Kerby Raymundo and from pointblank by Jared Dillinger and Sonny Thoss – but missed all.

South Korea took control of the rebound and Yang, racing against the game clock, banked in a scooping fast break layup with RP defenders all over to him to put them in front, 82-80, a little less than two seconds left.

The Nationals were a foul away from penalty but failed to use it to stop Yang’s break and paid the price for the late-game mental lapse.

National coach Yeng Guiao, famous for not suing for timeouts to stem the bleeding, called one consecutively to draw up a game-saving play, but Hur Jae, the former South Korean hotshot and now its head coach, got the better of the tactical exchange by putting in 7-foot-3 Ha Seung-Jin to disrupt the sideline throw-in.

After some hesitation, Jayjay Helterbrand succeeded in inbounding to James Yap, who rifled a way-off 3-point shot at the buzzer, losing his footing and falling on sideline advertisements as the South Koreans celebrated yet another miracle win over the Philippines.

Center Oh Sekeun led Korea with 31 points and 10 rebounds before getting hurt in the final 18.3 seconds before the next sequence of events led to the RP team’s agonizing defeat.

Meanwhile, defending champion Iran and host China were to dispute the championship later in the evening after pulling off hard-earned win in the semifinals.

China and Iran are automatic qualifiers to the FIBA World Championship in Istanbul next year, while Lebanon and Jordan will dispute third place here and the last spot available for FIBA Asia.

Both games were playing at press time. Qatar was also to battle Chinese-Taipei for fifth place.

Kazakhstan edged Japan, 77-73, for ninth place Saturday, and Kuwait turned back United Arab Emirates, 65-61, for 11th spot.

The scores:
SOUTH KOREA 82 – Oh 31, Kim 15, Kang 10, Lee 9, Yang HJ 9, Yang DG 6, Lee DJ 2, Bang 0, Joo 0, Ha 0, Kim 0.
RP 80 – Baguio 17, Thoss 5, Raymundo 14, Dillinger 9, Taulava 9, Santos 6, Norwood 5, Yap 3, Helterbrand 2, Aguilar 0, Pennisi 0.
Quarters: 19-26; 42-43; 62-62; 82-80.