Indonesian men's basketball team wins first tour game
Indonesian men's basketball team wins first tour game
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian men's basketball team made a good
start on Monday with a 95-78 victory over the Philippines
Maritime Institute on the first day of the Philippine's National
Basketball League invitation.
Indonesia, led by senior center Fictor Roring, took an early
lead 26-16 in the first quarter. But the team spoiled its lead
and was down 17-28 in the second quarter to narrow the first half
43-44.
In the third quarter, the Indonesians fought back to tie 20-20
and managed to extend the lead 32-14 in the final quarter to win
the game at the PMI basketball hall in Manila.
Team manager Erick Thohir expressed satisfaction with the
result as the team showed improvement in their form.
"The players performed very well. Riko Hantono, Ali
Budimansyah, I Gede Agus Wahyudi scored the most during the game.
Fictor Roring and Rommy Chandra were good in defense and so was
Lolik (I Made Sudiadnyana)," he was quoted as saying in a media
release from the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) on
Monday.
The invitation also served as a warm-up for the team before
competing at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur from
Sept. 8 to Sept. 17.
Indonesia will play three other local college clubs: the
University of Manila, St. Lorenzo and St. Francis, who are the
champions of the country's four college leagues. The only
league's semiprofessional club to attend the invitation is Chopat
Metrix.
"Participants are mostly College League champions, so they are
quite good as practice partners," Erick said.
In contrast to their compatriots, Indonesian women's players
suffered another humiliating defeat for the fourth consecutive
time to Junior Cantonese team in their last friendly match in
Canton, China, on Saturday. Indonesia lost 42-74.
Despite the poor result, team manager Max B. Lani still
praised the team as showing a significant improvement during
their campaign in China. He said in the last game with the junior
team the Indonesians had showed increasing self-confidence.
"The only reason why we kept losing was that we failed to net
the ball and we allowed our rivals to make fast breaks," Max said
from China.
The women's team will tune up in a series of friendly matches
in Hong Kong starting from Wednesday until Aug. 5. The men's team
will join them in Hong Kong to attend the 10th Super Kung Sheung
invitation starting Aug. 5. (ivy)