INA – PJ Esia win regular season to end 20-year wait

JAKARTA (NBL Indonesia) - Pelita Jaya Esia ended a 20-year title drought when they were crowned champions of the 2011 NBL Indonesia regular season following a 114-48 rout of BS Nikko Steel on Sunday.

Defending champions Satria Muda BritAma also won – a hard fought 72-67 result against CLS Knights – to finish with the same win-loss record (24-3) as PJ Esia, but the latter clinched the top spot on the head-to-head record (2-1).

“Congratulations to the Pelita Jaya Esia, the champions of the longest regular season in the history of professional basketball in Indonesia,” said NBL Indonesia commissioner Azrul Ananda.

“There have never been 27 games per team during the Regular Season.  And PJ Esia have done extremely well for their 24-3 record.”

"This (regular season championship), is not our final destination. We want to complete with the same intensity and win the playoffs. We want to create history as the first champions of the NBL Indonesia,” said PJ Esia team owner Syailendra ‘Eda’ Bakri.

The professional basketball league in Indonesia was renamed NBL Indonesia and the Regular Season played at five different venues for the first time this season.

The playoffs series in the newly-formatted NBL Indonesia will be played at Surabaya from 7th to 13th March. The top eight teams get to play in the post-season.

Sunday’s win marked the third consecutive time PJ Esia had scored more than 100 points in a game – the only time any team has done so this season.

PJ Esia had defeated Stadium Jakarta 101-52 on Saturday and Comfort Mobile CS 114-48 a day earlier.

Sunday’s game also saw PJ Esia shooting guard Ary Chandra set a new Season-high in scoring with a 42-point game, thus going past the 34 points scored by Dell Aspac’s Oki Sanjaya Wira against SW Angsapura.

Chandra also became the highest scorer in NBL with 379 points, for an average of 14.04 points per game – again the highest this season.

“I think Ary’s success is an example of how this team has played this season,” beamed PJ Esia coach Rastafari Horongbala.

“All the players contributed for him to score. That has been the motto of our team throughout this season One for All and All for One,” said Horongbala.

In another pivotal game, Dell Aspac clinched third place by beating Muba Hang Tuah 94-56.

NBL Indonesia standings (end of regular season)

1. PJ Esia 24-3
2. Satria Muda BritAma 24-3
3. Dell Aspac 20-7
4. CLS Knights 19-8
5. Garuda Flexi 17-10
6. Stadium Jakarta 12-15
7. Muba Hang Tuah 9-18
8. BS Nikko Steel 6-21
9. Comfort Mobile CS 2-25
10. SW Angsapura 2-25

Playoffs (Surabaya, 7th-13th March)
Quarter-finals - QF1: PJ Esia v BS Nikko Steel; QF2: CLS Knights v Garuda Flexi; QF3: Satria Muda v Muba; QF4: Dell Aspac v Stadium Jakarta.
Semi-finals: Winners QF1 v Winners QF2; Winners QF3 v Winners QF4.

FIBA Asia