Bhinneka challenges Aspac in final

Bhinneka challenges Aspac in final

JAKARTA (JP): A free throw by Bhinneka Sritex's seasoned
player I Made Sudiadnyana in the last four seconds took his team
to the final of the Nuvo Kobatama national basketball league with
a narrow 54-53 victory over Jakarta-based Satria Muda.

Bhinneka of Surakarta will face home favorite Aspac Texmaco in
the best-of-three finals on July 7, July 8 and July 10 at the
basketball hall in the Bung Karno sports complex here.

Defending champion Aspac did not have any difficulty in
beating Bandung's Panasia Indosyntec 76-41 (36-18) in the
semifinal on Saturday.

Sudiadnyana, alias Lolik, become the top scorer in the
semifinal with 16 goals, 10 rebounds and four assists.

Saturday's semifinal was payback time for Bhinneka Sritex,
which fell to Satria Muda in the 1999 league final.

Bhinneka displayed a solid defense which made it difficult for
Satria Muda players, who appeared to be underform, to break
through.

Satria Muda was left behind in the first and second quarter
but managed to rebound in the third. In the decider, it failed to
maintain the lead as its players were impatient to end the game.

"Tight defense is our key to victory. Most of our players are
getting on in years so they certainly cannot keep pace with
Satria Muda players, who are younger and faster," Bhinneka's
coach, Armyn Johan, was quoted by Antara as saying after the
game.

He said that Lolik's presence had boosted his team's
motivation.

"Lolik is suffering from ulcers so he was not in top form. We
were forced to field him because he is our backbone," he said.

Another top Bhinneka player, Wahyudi, said that experience was
the main reason for Saturday's victory.

"Bhinneka performed differently than in 1999. We used to be
too emotional. Now we never protest the referee's decision," said
the former national player.

Satria Muda's top player Syahrizal Affandi scored the majority
of 12 goals for his team.

"The players are underform. They failed to shoot well because
they were too hasty. In fact, Bhinneka was not so special tonight
and we should have beat them," Satria Muda's coach, Rastafari
Horongbala, said.

"But Bhinneka played effectively so they obviously can
maintain their stamina. They also had good attacking sense and
they managed to gain points this way," he added.

Bhinneka players got Rp 250 million (US$22,000) from the club
management with their success in taking the club to the final.
The amount will be doubled if they manage to take over the title
from Aspac.

Satria Muda will face Panasia to decide third and fourth place
on Sunday.

In a related development, Chinese coach Wang Chang-yu
eliminated four women basketball players from the training
program for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games because they did not
play fast enough, shunned body contact and were unable to
overcome their sentimentalities, according to the coach.

Women's team manager Max B. Lani named the players as Nina
Yunita and Cecilia Dwi Maya of Jakarta, Tanti Kuntadi of
Surakarta and Maria Yohana of Surabaya, East Java.

There are 14 women's players still on the team. The number
will be reduced to 12 in August, after a series of tryouts in
China and Hong Kong.(ivy)