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Satria Muda Tops Pelita Jaya in Battle of the Best
Sandy Pramuji | February 07, 2011

Satria Muda, shown in this file photo, which won the league championship five times in the last six seasons with one loss to Aspac in 2005, will play against No. 7 Muba in East Java. (JG Photo/ Yudhi Sukma Wijaya) Satria Muda, shown in this file photo, which won the league championship five times in the last six seasons with one loss to Aspac in 2005, will play against No. 7 Muba in East Java. (JG Photo/ Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
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A serious challenger to Satria Muda Britama’s throne found out the defending champion wasn’t  ready to relinquish its title yet.

Regular season MVP frontrunner Faisal J. Achmad scored 19 points to lead four Satria Muda players in double digits, and the five-time champion quelled a late rally by Pelita Jaya Esia to win 79-72 in the National Basketball League on Sunday.

It was Satria Muda’s first victory in three tries this season against Pelita Jaya, which had entered the game with a superior win-loss percentage.

A balanced offensive attack and key defensive stops late in the game allowed Satria Muda (20-3, 43 points) to leapfrog Pelita Jaya (19-3, 41 points) atop the 10-team standings.

Coach Fictor Roring’s team also beat Garuda Flexi 65-52 on Saturday to go two-for-two in Series Five of the NBL regular season.
“There was just a winning mentality that we had, especially against Pelita Jaya,” Fictor said.

Satria Muda looked like it would run away  against Pelita Jaya at Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno Basketball Hall, building a commanding 20-point lead in the first half.

But Pelita Jaya came roaring back to life at the restart as it found its outside shooting touch.

Guard Kelly Purwanto accounted for four of his team’s 10 three-pointers in the second half as Pelita Jaya clawed back to trail by only four points with 30 seconds left in the game.

But Satria Muda clamped down on Pelita Jaya’s final possession to preserve the win.

Satria Muda forward Wellyanson Situmorang finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, Amin Prihantono added 18 points and Youbel Sondakh had 12.

“We stayed calm and collected, and that helped us to focus defensively late in the game,” Fictor said. “Now we have a good chance of winning the regular season title as well as the championship series.”

Pelita Jaya finished its two-game swing over the weekend 0-2, having lost 68-60 to Dell Aspac on Saturday.

“I hope those were our last two losses this season. We can’t afford to lose another game if we want to win the regular season championship,” Pelita Jaya coach Rastafari Horongbala said.

Meanwhile, the league said it was encouraged by the attendance during the weekend games of the Jakarta series, the fifth and final series of the regular season.

League organizers said it drew an average crowd of 10,000 to watch the six games at Gelora Bung Karno.

In its last attendance report made available to the media, the NBL said an average of 2,000 fans attended the games in the first series in Surabaya in October.

The Jakarta series will run until this Sunday. The top eight teams will advance to the championship series on March 7-13 at DBL Arena in Surabaya.