After beating the San Sebastian College-Recoletos in the NCAA Season 101 Play-In tournament on November 25 at FilOil EcoOil Arena in San Juan City, John Barba of the Lyceum of the Philippines University said that they should play more as a team if they want to move forward.
No Known Superstars Even in the Past
In the 70 – 63 win of the LPU Pirates, Rebanse asked John “Ato” Barba during the postgame interview on what they should do in order to survive the playoffs and make it to the finals.
His answer? More of team basketball, considering LPU isn’t known to have “big names” in Philippine Collegiate Basketball.
“Kailangan naming mag laro as a team kase yung LPU ilang taon kaming kilalang wala naman talagang superstar dito eh. Talagang kung baga every game, kayang pumutok kahit sino sa amin may kakayahan.”
The graduating star had 22 points, three rebounds, and three assists.
His teammates, Michael Versoza and Jonathan Daileg, matched each other with 14 points and seven rebounds apiece, providing the spark LPU needed off the bench. Renz Villegas, also part of the bench, was able to contribute with 10 points as well.
With regards to their next game on how they can beat the #1 team in Group B, the San Beda University? Ato answered that they needed to have composure as they try and find solutions to their errors, more specifically, their rebounding and turnovers.
“And ayun, next game kailangan namin mag tulungan, mag composed and kailangan naming alamin yung mga mali namin para next game maging okay. Pero ang nakikita ko lang naman naging problema namin is yung rebounding and turnovers namin.”
The Lyceum of the Philippines University will face off against San Beda University on November 27 at the Mall of Asia Arena at 2:30 PM.
