Bima Sakti downs Pacific 71-61
SURAKARTA, Central Java (JP): Bima Sakti Nikko Steel opened the action at the 1999 A Mild Kobatama National Basketball League on Wednesday with a 71-61 win over bottom finisher Pacific Bank Swadesi.
In the second game, defending champion Panasia Indosyntec played Cahaya Lestari Surabaya (CLS) at Bhinneka Basketball Stadium. The game was unfinished at press time.
The fifth series, which will end on Monday, features five teams from the Eastern Division: Panasia, Bhinneka Sritex, Cahaya Lestari Surabaya, Bima Sakti Nikko Steel and Pacific.
Panasia has won nine games in the five series, losing only one contest to the Western Division's runner-up Mahaka Satria Muda in the third series in Surabaya, East Java.
Division runner-up and hometown favorite Bhinneka Sritex will face CLS on Thursday. Bhinneka, which boasts two members of the national team on it lineup, has won seven games and lost two in nine outings.
Bima Sakti and CLS are trailing Bhinneka but shooting for a berth in the final four. Both teams have four wins and six losses.
In the women's league, Bhinneka Sritex romped to a 93-40 thrashing of Merah Putih Medco of Jakarta. Sahabat Surabaya trounced Yogyakarta's Mataram Utama 65-30 and Rajawali Bandung defeated Rajawali Sakti Surabaya 79-43.
Pacific, which finished seventh behind Bima Sakti in the 1998 league, led 39-29 in the first half.
After the break, however, Bima Sakti changed its strategy to put the pressure on Pacific, which appeared to weaken because it was unprepared for the stepped-up pace.
Bima Sakti coach Armin Johan acknowledged that he instructed his team to raise the tempo because one of his top players, Oei Teng Khun, suffered a knee injury in the second half.
He said he assigned Sudiro to mark Pacific's top player Pek King-Dhay.
"I sacrificed Sudiro to block Pek King-Dhay's movement. And the strategy worked. We were able to make up the deficit."
Pek Khing-Dhay scored 21 points and five assists but Bima Sakti's center, Hendy, was rated the most valuable player on the day with 20 points and two assists.(44)