MANILA, Philippines — The UP Fighting Maroons are playing what is arguably their best basketball in decades as they currently ride a 7-game win streak in the UAAP Season 84 men's basketball tournament.
Second only to the four-peat seeking Ateneo Blue Eagles, the Maroons look to be on the right track for a deep run this season and possibly go for the championship.
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But UP's rising star Zavier Lucero and head coach Goldwyn Monteverde remain cautious as they are also looking to continue improving their game — particularly taking strong starts and maintaining big leads.
"Our mindset is to not be in a close game, but we keep finding ourselves here," Lucero lamented after an 84-76 victory over NU last Tuesday.
"I’m hoping as we continue we can keep that good start and keep in pushing not let them back in the game as the quarters go on," he added.
The Maroons were ahead by as much as 15 points against the Bulldogs before the latter was able to tie the game late in the third salvo.
Luckily for UP, they were able to come out with plays to fend off NU's challenge.
According to Monteverde, UP is using the week-long break to find the holes in their play to be able to compete the whole 48 minutes of the ball game.
"We have to be consistent din, we need to see what there is to improve pa rin, though definitely you know coming from this win meron pa rin kami male-learn definitely, kailangan lang namin makita to move on," he said.
Next on the schedule for the streaking Maroons are the FEU Tamaraws on Tuesday, April 19.