Aspac beats Hadtex
Aspac beats Hadtex
JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Aspac of Jakarta yesterday
cleared the first hurdle to retaining its crown by whipping
Hadtex of Bandung 92-73 in the final leg of this year's Intercity
Professional Basketball League (Kobatama).
"They're better. They show equal skills," Suwandi Bing Adi,
Hadtex's manager, said.
Suwandi complained that playing at 3 p.m. was detrimental to
his team because his team is usually resting at that time.
He said he believed both teams failed to play their best
because the Senayan Basketball Hall, with around 70 percent of
its 4,000 seats filled, was too hot. The players of both teams
had to use compresses to cool off.
Aspac's manager Irawan Haryono attributed his team's victory
to the change of its defensive strategy after realizing its
initial offensive moves were failing in the first six minutes.
"We constantly changed our strategy in such a way that their
playmaker, Wayman Strickland, was powerless. That's why he got
emotional," Irawan said. With Strickland made impotent, the
team's center, Casey Crawford, could do nothing with his towering
height (212cm), Irawan said.
"Their power lies in those two import cagers. Once they're
shut off, the rest could easily be scattered," Irawan said.
Moreover, the two foreign cagers get tired easily because of
their teammates' poor support, Irawan said. He added that his
forward, Bobby Parks, missed half of the three point scores he
attempted due to the distraction of the heat.
In the first half, Hadtex showed exceptional agility in
stealing the ball, but then became error-prone. This gave Aspac
18 free-throw opportunities, half of which it made.
Hadtex recorded a total of 21 fouls, with Rani Kristiono
fouling out, while Aspac had only 14.
Aspac's scores were mostly rocketed through 13 three-point
shots. Felix Bendatu shot seven of them.
Yesterday's three other matches were between Siliwangi of
Bandung and Indonesia Muda of Jakarta, Pacific of Surabaya and
Pelita Jaya of Jakarta, and Bima Sakti of Malang and CLS of
Surabaya.
Today Indonesia Muda will lock horns with Bima Sakti, Pacific
with Aspac, CLS with Siliwangi and Pelita Jaya with Hadtex. (arf)