Aspac outshines Panasia in their second meeting

JAKARTA (JP): Andi Poejakusuma made one of two free throws in the final eight seconds to ice Aspac's 79-75 victory over Panasia Indosyntec in the sixth series of the 1999 A Mild Kobatama national basketball league at the Senayan basketball arena on Friday.

With only eight seconds remaining, Panasia was unable to catch Aspac, meaning the defending champion will most likely finish the regular season in second place.

Aspac, which was beaten by Panasia in their first meeting in the league's third series in Surabaya last month, trailed 41-46 at the end of the first half.

Panasia's hold on second place is tenuous, and it could slip to third if Mahaka Satria Muda (SM) wins its final game against Bhinneka Sritex of Surakarta on Saturday.

In other action, the three point shooting of Yopie Junior helped lead SM a 68-47 victory over Cahaya Lestari Surabaya (CLS).

Mahaka, which trailed 28-29 at the end of the first half, took advantage of a poor CLS defense in the second half to extend its winning streak in the current series.

In the second half, CLS played extremely tenuous and rarely forced the play. As a team, they managed a paltry 18 points in the second half.

"I don't know why they lost their fighting spirit. They just allowed their opponents to score. When they realized they could not outscore their opponents, they got frustrated," CLS coach Wellyanto Pribadi said.

SM coach Rastafari Horongbala said his team would try to defeat Bhinneka Sritex in their game on Saturday.

Rastafari said SM would help its rival into the league's final four.

"We came here to win. We don't want to lose. We are sure we can be the champions. We have seen that the Panasia's players are not playing their best," he said.

Panasia already lost to SM in the third series in Surabaya, East Java, and here.

Also on Friday, Siliwangi managed to stay even with Pacific in the first half, but fell behind in the second half and ended up losing 62-75.

Pacific's star player Pek King-dhay scored 12 points in the first half and contributed another 13 points in the second half to lead his team to its second victory in the series. (ivy)

Standings Clubs Games Won Loss Points Aspac 18 17 1 35 Panasia Indosyntec 18 14 4 32 Mahaka Satria Muda 17 13 4 30 Bhinneka Sritex 17 12 5 29 Indonesia Muda Texmaco 17 9 8 26 Pacific Bank Swadesi 17 6 11 23 Cahaya Lestari Surabaya 17 6 11 23 Bima Sakti Nikko Steel 17 5 12 22 Citra Satria Pelita 17 4 13 21 Siliwangi 17 0 17 17