Semarang's Glory earns first win at Kobatama
Semarang's Glory earns first win at Kobatama
JAKARTA (JP): Glory of Semarang, Central Java, capitalized on
Siliwangi's fouls in the last minutes and turned a 57-57 draw
into a 70-64 victory. Glory beat the West Javanese team in a
rough-and-tumble battle on the third day of the national semi-
professional basketball league (Kobatama) yesterday.
It was the first, hard earned victory for the underdog team,
as its own manager, Dani Kosasih, put it, after a 63-75 defeat to
Pelita Jaya on the first day and a narrow 64-67 loss to defending
champion Aspac the second day.
About six minutes from the onset, the two teams showed equal
strength shot for shot. It was hard for Siliwangi, whose players
will represent West Java in the next National Games (PON), to
make points because the 2.1 meter Dan Gray, the team's only
imported player and most reliable shot maker, was closely blocked
by three and sometimes four players.
The first half ended 39-29 for Glory when its American-signed
Darryl Flowers deliberately killed the time with useless
dribbling.
Throughout the game, the two teams made a total of 15 fouls.
As a result of their rapid but error prone nip and tuck game,
each lost one of its players, Glory's Bisih and Siliwangi's Priam
Wuwungan, due to foul trouble.
Siliwangi's Chinese coach, Huang Pin Jie, told The Jakarta
Post after the match that his team was weaker and less
experienced than Glory. "But I believe they did their best,"
Huang said. Huang also attributed Glory's victory to its two
imported players, Flowers and Norman Marbury. "They got most of
the points through these two," Huang said.
When asked what led his team to victory, Glory's manager,
Dani Kosasih, told the Post that Siliwangi played too slowly. "If
they had played faster, it would have been very, very hard for us
to follow, let alone to score because our players' stamina had
dropped after yesterday's hard match against defending champion
Aspac".
According to Dani, his team, which is financed by the
country's largest tobacco company, PT Gudang Garam, might seem to
be fast but that actually it was Siliwangi's playing slowly gave
the impression of a fast game. (arf)
Thursday's collated results
Bima Sakti 75, CLS 44
Aspac 67, Glory 64
Siliwangi 62, Indonesia Muda 72
Pacific 73, Halim 72
Pelita Jaya 64, Hadtex 54
Today's program
4:30 pm Siliwangi vs Hadtex
6:00 pm Bima Sakti vs Petrogres
7.30 pm Halim vs Pelita Jaya
9:00 pm Glory vs Indonesia Muda
10:30 pm Pacific vs CLS