Topex: 'I let the team down'
Surrounded by his players, Lyceum coach Topex Robinson broke down in tears in the arms of assistant coach Ricky Reyes as the magnitude of the Pirates’ stunning downfall in the 93rd NCAA seniors basketball finals started to sink in.
“I just felt that I let the team down, the community down,” he lamented, still teary-eyed after Lyceum saw its title hopes get shattered into pieces by eventual back-to-back champion San Beda behind a 92-82 win in Game 2 on Thursday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
“I really failed for the players for all the work they put in. I felt that I wasn’t good enough to lead this team. I feel for them and I feel for their families. I just went back to the feelings of the sacrifices we made, being away from our families, all of those just compiled up. And I really felt sorry for failing to lead this team (to the crown).”
The defeat, which came on the heels of a 94-87 loss in the opener a week ago, put a whimper on what started as a remarkable run for the Pirates, who completed an 18-game sweep of the eliminations that earned them an outright stint in their breakthrough finals appearance since joining the league in 2009.
But for all the talk about its full potential and the ability of reigning league MVP CJ Perez to do it all on both ends, Lyceum apparently still lacked that championship poise in such gut-wrenching stages where cerebral San Beda playmaker Robert Bolick and his battle-tested teammates thrive the most.
“I guess they really are a good team,” said Robinson, tipping his hat to the Red Lions who executed with surgical precision offensively and made life miserable for the Pirates behind a suffocating halfcourt defense which has been the hallmark of San Beda tactician Boyet Fernandez’s tried-and-tested championship philosophy.
The 6-foot-1 Perez, unlike Bolick, hardly got anything thing in the final period after scoring 22 points, Cameroon big man Mike Nzeusseu failed to hold his ground against compatriot and eventual Finals MVP Donald Tankoua and the Pirates’ usual solid backups cringed in the face of the Red Lions’ decisive assault.
While the Red Lions made a successful title defense and bagged their 10th title in the last 12 years, the Pirates were left with no recourse but to lick their wounds as their earlier feat turned into a mere footnote in collegiate basketball history.
Lyceum likewise suffered the same ill-fated journey endured by University of the East in the UAAP exactly a decade ago when the Red Warriors wielded the big broom in the 14-game eliminations and clinched an automatic finals berth, only to loss twice against the La Salle Green Archers in stunning fashion.
But Robinson believes “that everything happens cause it’s meant to happen. I don’t wanna dwell on what happened before. Whatever experience that we have right now, I’m sure there’s a reason for it.
“At the end of the day, we’re a family and we will keep helping and supporting each other. The more that they need me now as their father. How they’re gonna face this situation and the more I also need my players. I draw strength from them knowing that they really gave their best.”