Led by Lee Hyun-jung's 27 points and 18 rebounds, Korea beat host Japan 67-57 for its first Asian Games men's basketball title in 12 years.

NAGOYA — Korea beat Japan 67-57 on Sunday to win the men's basketball gold at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026, its first Asian Games title in 12 years.

Forward Lee Hyun-jung finished with game highs of 27 points and 18 rebounds in the final at Aichi International Arena. Lee Jung-hyun added 15 points and seven assists. It was Korea's second win over Japan at this year's Games, after a 100-83 victory in the group stage.

The gold was Korea's fifth in Asian Games men's basketball, following 1970, 1982, 2002 and 2014. Korea finished third at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games and lost in the quarterfinals at Hangzhou three years ago.

Expectations were low heading into the tournament. Korea had gone 1-5 since Latvian coach Nikolajs Mazurs took over, and it lost both friendlies against Japan on Aug. 15 and 16. The second defeat, a 66-95 rout, came without ace Lee Hyun-jung, but it was humiliating all the same. Korea then went unbeaten at the Asian Games.

Japan left out NBA players Rui Hachimura and Yuki Kawamura and core players such as Josh Hawkinson and Yuta Watanabe, and fielded a young roster with an average age of 25.1. It still had considerable height, with five naturalized or mixed-heritage players  — Alex Kirk, measuring 2.12 meters (6 feet, 11 inches) in height, Toyoshige Kano measuring 2.10 meters and Avi Schafer measuring 2.06 meters — and dominated the boards early.

Korea also faced home-court disadvantages. The organizing committee failed to send a vehicle for the team on game day, so Korea missed its morning practice, and several calls during the game appeared to favor Japan.

Lee Jung-hyun, nonetheless, drove into the paint to create chances for teammates and scored himself when the defense loosened. Lee Hyun-jung shot from inside and outside whenever he found space. Korea went scoreless for the final five minutes of the first quarter and trailed at one point, but the teams were tied 28-28 at halftime. The third quarter turned into a shooting contest. Byeon Jun-hyeong and the two Lees hit 3-pointers, and Japan answered with threes from Atsuya Ogawa, Yuto Kawashima and John Harper Jr.

Lee Hyun-jung took over in the second half. He fought for loose balls under the basket as Japan's taller players took turns guarding him and never tired. Japanese fans chanted "defense," but his 3-pointers still dropped through the rim.

Lee Jung-hyun's basket with 7 minutes and 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter put Korea up 62-49. Japan then unraveled, committing a string of offensive fouls. Lee Hyun-jung sealed the game with a tip-in that made it 11 points with 3 minutes and 36 seconds left.

Lee Hyun-jung is the son of Sung Jung-a, a member of the women's basketball team that won gold at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games. Lee and his mother are only the second mother-son pair to win Asian Games gold, and the first to do it in the same sport. The first was tennis player Seol Min-kyung, who won in 1982, and her son and baseball player Hwang Jae-gyun, who won in 2014. 

The gold medal earns Lee an exemption from mandatory military service, which also gives momentum to his push to play in the NBA.

Korea has four golds as of Sunday and stands third in the overall medal standings. Seong Seung-min took the first of them in the women's individual modern pentathlon and the men's team of Jun Woong-tae, Seo Chang-wan and Lee Jong-hyeon also won gold in the team event. Lee Jun-suk won the men's individual event in teqball, which made its debut as an official sport at the Games.