Satria Muda vows to bounce back in IBL finals

Satria Muda vows to bounce back in IBL finals

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Defending Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) champion Satria
Muda Britama is determined to battle back in the do-or-die second
game of the final against Hewlett Packard Aspac.

"We will fight to get the second game and are set to do some
brainstorming to decide our strategy," Satria's coach Fictor
"Ito" Gideon Roring was quoted as saying on Wednesday by Antara
news service.

His team lost 59-40 to Aspac in last Friday's first game of
the best-of-three contest. The second game will be held at the
Bung Karno Basketball Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on
Friday.

If Satria wins, the deciding game will be held at the same
location on Saturday.

Ito said he was unable to sleep the night of his team's loss,
believing his team could have handed the undefeated Aspac its
first loss of the season.

"We would have beaten them but for our terrible start," he
said after his team practiced in Senayan.

"Basically, (for the next game) we will try to limit the
turnovers that occurred in the first game and that were seized
upon by our opponents," the former national center said.

He added that his players would be warned to watch out for
Aspac's "big man" Hari Suharsono, who ripped through their
defense in the opening match.

"There will not be any special guarding of him. Aspac players
are perfect, all five starters must be closely guarded, so it's
difficult."

Satria Muda center Octaviano Permata was also confident his
team could win.

"As a team, we're not outclassed by them, we can compete with
them but we need to be calmer."

Aspac, who lost 0-2 in last year's final but have used an all-
out attack to dominate the 2005 competition, vowed last week that
they would inflict a defeat by the same scoreline against their
longtime rivals.

But pride is on the line for Octaviano, who said he suffered
nightmares for two consecutive nights after the loss last week,
and his teammates.

"We won't let Aspac win 2-0 and allow them to remain
undefeated this season," he said.