Lyceum coach Gilbert Malabanan. NCAA PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Lyceum turned to one of its sweet shooters in its close win over Perpetual Help on Saturday but coach Gilbert Malabanan stressed the importance of playing well on the other end of the floor.
John Barba scored a career-high for the Pirates with 20 points from four buckets in the three-point area but Malabanan remains steadfast in improving on the defensive end.
“Barba can score a lot of points but we don’t stop there. We can’t just score, we need to work on our defense. The good thing is if he can’t defend, he will score,” said Malabanan at San Juan Arena after their 86-82 victory over the Altas that snapped a two-game losing streak.
The Pirates registered eight steals and five blocks as a team and also forced Perpetual Help to 16 turnovers.
Lyceum also made the necessary stops including forcing a miss on a potential game-tying triple by Jielo Razon.
Barba said his offensive contributions were just a bonus as he focused on what he could do to make an impact defensively.
“I just did my part to help because every game I think of the team. It’s just a bonus that I got 20 points,” he said.
“Lyceum is known for defense so our coach always tells us to defend, there are no off-days in defense,” he said.
Apart from Lyceum’s defense, Malabanan also lauded his team’s ball movement with the Pirates finishing with 24 assists.
“The good thing in today’s game is our 24 assists, 24 assists are too high for us. We had 16 assists in the first half and that’s already equivalent to one game and I think that’s what made us win as well.”