Team captain Enoch Valdez believes Lyceum of the Philippines rediscovered its old identity after escaping first round tormentor Jose Rizal University in a 99-96 overtime win on Tuesday.
Prior to the hard-fought win, the formerly league-leading Pirates were reeling from a three-game skid, including a heartbreaking double-OT loss to JRU.
But in their rematch against the Heavy Bombers, the Pirates were able to dig deep to get some measure of payback with Greg Cunanan and Valdez showing the way.
"Nag-work kami nung break namin and kita niyo naman ‘yung improvement namin, lalo na si Greg Cunanan," Valdez said.
"Sobrang laking contribution nung ginawa niya and ‘yung mga teammates ko, parang bumalik kami sa dati na gutom na gutom talaga sa panalo."
("We worked during our break and you can see our improvement, especially Greg Cunanan... He made big contributions and so did my other teammates. It was like our old hunger to win returned.")
But Lyceum head coach Gilbert Malabanan knows the road doesn't get easier for them, especially with all teams now gearing up for a tougher contest in the second round.
"I think my team deserves to win kasi they worked for it," Malabanan added.
"Actually hindi naman namin pinagusapan ‘yung three-game losing streak, sinabi ko lang sa kanila na second round na so lahat ng laban namin is pahirap nang pahirap so kailangan talaga namin pagtrabahuhan."
("Actually, we didn't talk about the three-game losing streak, I just told them it was the second round already so every game is going to get harder and harder. So we need to work for it.")
Still, he puts his trust in his players as they look to return to the Final Four.
"May gusto na silang patunayan, ‘yung team na ‘to kasi sabi ko nga sa kanila let’s do the work and not the talking and nakita naman natin sa game na ‘to."
("This team has something to prove. I told them, let's do the work and not the talking and you saw that in this game today.")
— JMB, GMA Integrated News
