JAKARTA -- The Philippines’ medal drought in basketball will last for at least one more edition of the Asian Games, after they bowed to perennial tormentors South Korea in the quarterfinals on Monday morning at the Basketball Hall in the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex.

The Philippines stayed close for three and a half quarters but faltered in the closing stretch, allowing Ricardo Ratliffe and the rest of Korea to pull away for a 91-82 victory.

• READ: The curse lives as Korea beats Gilas Pilipinas again

With the loss, the Philippines was relegated to the classification phase, which starts on Tuesday afternoon. They will take on Japan, which lost 93-67 to Iran also on Monday.

“Hindi pa natatapos 'yung trabaho namin. Goal namin at least, kung 'di man kami makapag-laro for a medal, kailangan namin at least maka-fifth place, kailangan ma-improve 'yung placing ng Philippines,” said Poy Erram.

“Yeah, we'll go for fifth place, and of course we'll try to keep winning. We'll try to better our last finish in the last Asian Games,” said coach Yeng Guiao.

The Philippines placed seventh in the last Asiad in Incheon four years ago, and when the hastily assembled squad when to Jakarta their marching orders were simply to improve upon that finish.

But the arrival of Filipino-American guard Jordan Clarkson increased the expectations for the team, even as Guiao warned that it will take time for the Cleveland Cavalier guard to develop chemistry with his new teammates.

Clarkson has been solid in the past two games, scoring 28 points in an 82-80 loss to China, and 25 in the defeat to Korea. He has struggled to find his rhythm from the field, but in both contests he came alive in the third quarter to anchor the Philippines’ charge.

“I feel bad for Jordan,” said team captain Gabe Norwood. “He’s come out, and he hasn’t gotten a win with us yet. A lot of that goes on us.”

“He's putting his heart out there, on both ends of the court. It comes down to guys like myself, the veterans that can help us get wins down the stretch. And we gotta find a way to do that,” he said.

Norwood and the rest of Team Philippines will try to check their skid and stay on track for a fifth place finish Tuesday against Japan. Game time is at 4 p.m. in the Basketball Hall in Jakarta.

“It will still be the best finish I’ve ever had in the Asian Games,” said Norwood, a part of that 2014 team that placed seventh. “So I guess there’s some silver lining at the end of this.”

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