Unbeaten Maroons lock horns with winless Tamaraws

MANILA, Philippines — Pacesetting University of the Philippines tries to run away from the pack when it takes on the winless Far Eastern U in the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball today at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Off to the races with a 3-0 start, the Maroons as the only unbeaten squad plunge back to action at 11 a.m. against the Tamaraws (0-3) in a bid to keep a stranglehold of the top spot midway through the first round.

Other teams jockey for early playoff positions led by La Salle (2-1) and Adamson (2-1) in the main game at 6 p.m. after the separate battles among reigning champion Ateneo (1-2) against University of the East (2-1) at 1 p.m. and National U (2-1) versus Santo Tomas (0-3) at 4 p.m.

The vengeful Maroons took down the Falcons, 68-51, Warriors, 84-69, and the Bulldogs, 78-60, with reigning MVP Malick Diouf, who was named the Collegiate Press Corps’ UAAP Player of the Week, at the helm behind monstrous averages so far.

The towering Senegalese carries an average of 17.0 points, 15.33 rebounds and 2.67 blocks into the battleground against FEU, which bowed to La Salle, 87-76, NU, 71-65, and UE 65-58.

“Syempre at the start of the season, every win na maiipon mo is something good but we have to keep reminding ourselves that this is just our third game. Focus pa rin kami what to work on,” said coach Goldwin Monteverde, who also has Francis Lopez, CJ Cansino and Harold Alarcon to bank on.

“Definitely, there’s a lot of things to improve on. In search kami for things that would make us better as a team.”

In women’s basketball, vastly improved UP (3-0) stakes its perfect slate against FEU (2-1) at 1 p.m. with Player of the Week Favour Onoh at the helm.

Onoh is averaging 11.33 points, 13, 0 rebounds, 3.33 steals and 2.33 blocks after three games.