Lyceum’s 23-year-old big man Mike Nzeusseu was the first one to leave the Pirates’ locker room on Thursday evening. Clearly frustrated with what had just happened, the Cameroonian student-athlete tried to keep his head up high.
“It was a tough loss, everybody was crying but at the end of the day, this will only help us better for next year,” Nzeusseu told Tiebreaker Times after the Lyceum Pirates were swept in the Finals by the San Beda Red Lions.
“Nobody even expected us to reach this point so for me, even if it’s a tough loss, I’m just grateful that we were able to get this kind of competition.”
Expectations were high on the Pirates entering the Finals. Seen as the favorites, Lyceum had been expected to win at least one game in the best-of-three series.
Nzeusseu did his part, posting norms of 14.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in the two games. But the experience of the Red Lions, especially in the close out situations, proved to be too much for the young Pirates.
Though it was tough to admit, the Lyceum sophomore conceded that it was the lack of experience that proved to be their downfall.
“Championship experience was really shown in this game. San Beda was different from the elimination to the championship. They had the championship mentality, they were a better team,” shared Nzeusseu.
Unlike the Pirates, the Red Lions played with a hint of viciousness in them. The defending champions had vengeance in their mind all throughout the series. And this mindset is what Nzeusseu wants the Pirates to have entering next season.
“We need to be tough, we need to be more aggressive. There is no room for kindness from the first game to the last game. We need to play with a champion’s mentality in all our games,” he said.
“There is no room for excuses anymore.”
