Home teams still dominate Kobatama

Home teams still dominate Kobatama

JAKARTA (JP): Dwui Eriano's basket with eight seconds left
lifted Jakarta-based Satria Muda to a 64-63 victory over Wismilak
Cahaya Lestari Surabaya (CLS) in the third series of the 2001
Nuvo Kobatama national basketball league on Sunday.

Defending champion Aspac Texmaco, also from Jakarta,
demonstrated its dominance, trouncing Bima Sakti Nikko Steel of
Malang 94-66 to stay on top of the standings.

Aspac only needs one more victory to secure its berth in the
final four, while Satria Muda needs two wins to advance. Aspac
has six more games to play while Satria Muda has seven.

On Sunday, CLS jumped to an early 23-17 lead, but Satria Muda
managed to narrow the gap to 35-32 at halftime at the Bung Karno
basketball hall in Senayan.

CLS hung tough against the 1999 champion and finished the
third quarter with a slim 46-45 lead. In the final quarter, both
teams turned up the defensive pressure and national player Hari
Suharsono of CLS helped his team to a 48-45 lead.

The two teams exchanged baskets in the hard-fought fourth
quarter and Satria Muda took a 60-59 lead.

CLS point guard Agung Sunarko was floored by Syahrizal Affandi
with two minutes left, and Agung calmly sank both free throws to
give CLS a 61-60 advantage.

Agung added two more points with 66 seconds remaining to make
it 63-60. Satria Muda's Roni Ronaldy, who replaced veteran Fictor
G. Roring as center in the last quarter, made two free throws to
cut CLS' lead to 63-62.

Agung, who played a key role for his team down the stretch,
missed two free throws with 17 seconds left in the game.

The misses cost CLS, which saw the game slip away when Dwui
scored in the closing seconds to give his team the 64-63 victory.

CLS assistant coach Sapto Wahyu Purnomo praised Satria Muda's
strategy.

"They played very well. We tried to match them but their
strategy worked better than ours. This is not about luck, but in
the last seconds the CLS players lost their focus," he said.

Sapto said CLS coach Eddy Santoso told his players to tighten
their defense in the final 17 seconds to prevent Satria Muda from
making a three pointer.

"We tried to shadow Satria Muda shooting guard Agustinus D.
Sigar wherever he went, but their club had a better strategy than
us," he said, while praising Agung for never losing his
concentration despite the pressure he was under.

Satria Muda assistant coach Apriyadi said that coach Rastafari
Horongbala told his players to turn up the offense in the final
17 seconds.

"He asked the players to concentrate on offense and to score
quickly. We had very little time, but we tried to narrow the gap
during that period." (ivy)