As Lyceum of the Philippines University escaped with an 81-78 win against Emilio Aguinaldo College on Saturday, the Pirates relied on one of its heroes Oman Omandac.
During the match which saw the absence of Enoch Valdez due to fever and John Barba and JM Bravo suffering injuries in the game, Omandac flirted with a double-double as he scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
For Omandac, he just stepped up to keep the Pirates on track to their goal.
"Ginawa ko lang 'yung role ko na sinabi ni Coach Gilbert [Malabanan] sa akin, always ready lang ako," Omandac said on Saturday.
"Nag-motivate sa akin is wala 'yung team captain namin (Valdez), tapos na-injure pa si Barba sa amin."
"Kung sinong hugutin ni Coach Gilbert, sinasabi niya sa amin na always ready kayo."
(I just did my role as Coach Gilbert said, I should always be ready. What motivated me was the absence of our captain and Barba was injured. Whoever Coach Gilbert calls, he just said be ready.)
Malabanan, meanwhile, said this just shows the unpredictability of his team.
"That's the good thing dito sa team ko. My team is very unpredictable," he said. "Parang lahat ng players ko they are always ready."
(That's the good thing with my team. My team is very unpredictable. They seem to be always ready.)
The Pirates will return to action on Friday when they face Mapua University.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
