MANILA, Philippines—Lyceum head coach Topex Robinson doesn’t mind having the smallest team in the league.
And why would he when he has a slew of talented and effective players at his disposal, especially in the backcourt.
“Funny story when we entered the parade, Jayvee (Marcelino) told me that we’re the smallest team in the field,” Robinson, who was also the epitome of heart over height during his playing days in the PBA as a 5-foot-7 point guard, said.
“I told them coming into the game against Letran, we have two choices: It’s either we lose by being the smallest team or we win by being the smallest team,” he added. “The choice is ours. We might be the smallest but what we have is the quickest team in the league right now.”
The Pirates rose to the occasion by running circles around the Knights en route to an 84-80 win led by their three guards all under six feet in Jaycee and Jayvee Marcelino and captain Reymar Caduyac.
Jaycee fired a game-high 24 points while Jayvee scored 18 and Caduyac added 16.
Lyceum also played minus Cameroonian big man Mike Nzeusseu, who is still recovering from a fractured index finger, and yet was able to out-rebound Letran, 46-39.
“We were just hoping that the other teams won’t catch up. We really didn’t have a big coming into the game and Letran is a big. big team so that’s the choice we took and it gave us the win,” Robinson said.