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)