Pirates lick wounds, aim for revenge

MANILA, Philippines — After spending an extra day licking their wounds, the LPU Pirates are back on the floor practicing hard, gearing up for Thursday’s Game 2 against the San Beda Red Lions.

In dramatic fashion, the Pirates lost the series opener last Friday, 94-87. It was their first loss in the NCAA season, and it came at a time when they really couldn’t afford one.

“The team is doing great,” said Lyceum of the Philippines U coach  Topex Robinson in a text message to The STAR yesterday.

After the bitter loss, Robinson gave his players a day off last Saturday, and went back to practice Sunday.

It’s the first time Lyceum made it to the NCAA finals since joining the league in 2011. And the series opener against the league’s perennial champions did not turn out the way they expected.

“San Beda was the better team,” was how Robinson, one of the league’s younger coaches, summed up the game.

The Red Lions will try to wrap it up and bring home their 10th championships in 12 years on Thursday.

The Pirates won all their 18 games in the eliminations, beating the Red Lions twice. For some time during the game, it seemed they were to keep their unbeaten form, leading by as many as 12 points in the third period.

But the troika of Donald Tankoua, Robert Bolick and Davon Potts had other things in mind.

The Red Lions exploded for 30 points in the final quarter, 11 of them courtesy of Bolick, and ended up winning the tightly-fought contest.

The Pirates played well as a team, in fact, they did better in some departments. They shot better from the floor, sank more free throws, had more assists, more steals and less turnovers.

But San Beda had more rebounds, 51-35, and scored 15 points off the offensive rebounds compared to the three of Lyceum.

Tankoua, a 6-foot-6 Cameroonian, grabbed 20 rebounds and scored 27 points, including a twisting layup that only a well-trained acrobat could make. That basket helped San Beda tie the count at 64-64 entering the final period.

Robinson said all’s well within the team now, three days after the defeat that suddenly questioned their capability of winning it all this year, after that 18-0 run in the elims.