Aspac beats Panasia in Kobatama
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)