Satria Muda bag hat-trick of weekend wins
By Jan Lin/Red Hoops
Satria Muda’s 29-year-old center, Rony Gunawan, scored the crucial basket in the dying seconds that allowed Satria Muda to surge to a 61-58 victory and lifted the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) Tournament trophy last Sunday. (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports file photo)
Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma completed a hat-trick of victories last weekend to lift the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) Tournament trophy and advance in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) standings.
On Friday, the local boys played in the semi-final of the IBL Tournament against the defending tournament champions Garuda Flexi Bandung and scored a morale-boosting, 64-47 victory to avenge their 2008 loss.
The local boys then teamed up with their three ABL imports – Rensy Bajar, Alexander Hartman and Nakiea Miller – to outclass the Singapore Slingers 67-58 at the BritAma Arena in Kelapa Gading on Saturday afternoon.
After the victory that saw the team overtaking Slingers on the ABL standings for second place, the local boys then traveled to C-Tra Arena in Bandung for the IBL Tournament final against Pelita Jaya Esia on Sunday.
In the nail-biting final, Satria Muda stormed off to a 13-6 lead in the first period and led Pelita Jaya Esia 27-22 at half-time. Satria Muda then lost the lead 43-44 by the end of the third period, but with 10 seconds left on the clock, Satria Muda’s 29-year-old center, Rony Gunawan, scored the crucial basket that allowed the four-time IBL champion to surge to a 61-58 victory.
Just a couple of weeks ago, there were fatigue concerns for the local players who have to compete in two tournaments concurrently – the ABL and the IBL Tournament. The latter is a pre-season competition for the annual domestic league.
As it now stands, lifting the IBL Tournament trophy while competing simultaneously in the ABL may have been physically demanding, but it has also become a much needed confidence boost for the Indonesian players competing in the foreign-dominated ABL.
“If Satria Muda keeps playing like this, we can beat any team in the ABL,” said Satria Muda’s head coach Fictor Roring.
Satria Mudia will travel to Bangkok for their away ABL tie against the Thailand Tigers this Sunday before the league goes on a two-week hiatus.
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