Milos Pejic Says After Indonesia Patriots Defeated By Amartha Hangtuah: The Only Difference Is A Matter Of Experience

JAKARTA - Indonesia Patriots coach Milos Pejic admits that his team still lacks experience and experience in competing at the professional level after being defeated by Amartha Hangtuah Jakarta with a score of 58-60 in the IBL 2022 Series I continued at the Gelora Bung Karno Basketball Hall, Jakarta, Thursday.

Even so, Pejic sees his team increasingly showing progress, especially in terms of defense, only from the attack aspect, the coach who handled Satria Muda Pertamina Jakarta last season admitted that he still needed more time to develop.

"We played with a very good defense. However, we felt the players might be nervous at the start and we tried to improve this in the last three quarters," Pejic said as quoted by Antara, Friday.

The defeat to Hangtuah was the second time the Patriots have dropped points in the regular season, having previously lost to Bali United Basketball and defeated debutants Evos Thunder Bogor.

"The difference is only a matter of experience. I am shaping all the players here to be better every day. These are only three games, while the journey is still long and there is still much to improve. This team must improve even more in the future," explained Pejic.

The Patriots started slowly in the early quarter. Their poor shot execution made them only able to collect six points compared to 19 from Hangtuah's players.

Ali Bagir et al were only able to balance the game in the second quarter to reduce the distance to 23-31.

The Patriots started the fourth quarter still trailing 43-55. They had a chance to take the lead with three minutes remaining at 56-58. However, a personal foul by Julian Chalias gave Hangtuah an advantage.

Two free shots were successfully executed by Anton Waters to bring Hangtuah to widen the margin to 60-56. Meanwhile, the Patriots were only able to reply with a layup in the last minute, and no more points were scored until the bell rang.