Aspac beats Panasia in Kobatama
JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Aspac Texmaco outclassed Bandung-based Panasia Indosyntec 92-84 in action on the seventh day of the third series of the 2001 Nuvo Kobatama national basketball league here on Wednesday.
Jakarta-based Dwidasa Mitra proved too powerful for Bima Sakti Nikko Steel of Malang, winning 68-57. The victory moved Dwidasa to seventh place in the standings, while Bima Sakti moved to the bottom of the standings in the 10-team league.
Satria Muda of Jakarta and Bhinneka Sritex of Surakarta played late on Wednesday.
Aspac tops the standings with 27 points from 13 wins and one loss. Bhinneka Sritex and Satria Muda are battling for second and third places, while Panasia stands in fourth place with 21 points from eight wins and five losses.
On the court, Panasia dominated the first and second quarters against Aspac. The Bandung team built a 29-24 lead by the end of the first quarter. To counter the hot-shooting Panasia, Aspac tightened its defense and prevented Panasia from taking three pointers.
Aspac also called on the towering Suko Daryono and shooter Tri Adnyana Adiloka to keep Panasia from penetrating the key. Suko also contributed on the offensive end, making two three pointers. Despite the good defensive work by Aspac, Panasia still went into the half with a 49-46 lead.
The game tightened up in the third quarter, as Aspac and Panasia traded baskets and the lead for nine minutes. Panasia was dealt a blow when I Gede Agus Wahyudi fouled out with 23 points, 18 from three pointers, five rebounds and one assist.
Crowd favorite Antonius Joko Endratmo replaced Agus in the forward spot, but he failed to produce on the offensive end and Aspac finished the third quarter with a 67-64 lead.
In the final quarter, Panasia only managed to score 20 points while Aspac finished strong with 25 points, closing out its 92-84 victory and finishing the third series on a winning note.
Riko Hantono was named the Most Valuable Player of the game. He finished with 33 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Panasia coach Herru Juharso said following the game that his team was physically outclassed by Aspac, which has concentrated on improving the physical fitness of its players since last year's league.
"I admit that my players are less fit than those from Aspac. They were exhausted in the last quarter and it seems they could just no longer concentrate," he said.
Seeing how fatigued his players were, Herru ordered them to save some energy for their game against Satria Muda on Thursday.
"We have to win that game. We have to win a minimum of three games in the fourth series in June to book a ticket for the final four."
The coach of Aspac, Tjetjep Firmansyah, said Agus's fouling out affected the performance of Panasia.
"I think Agus's fouling out was the main reason behind Panasia's loss. Agus was too reckless and made too many meaningless fouls," he said. (ivy)