College of St. Benilde opened the second week of the NCAA Season 98 with yet another win.
This time, it’s against the team who eliminated them last season.
“Of course, it’s in the back of our minds that this team eliminated us last season so we wanted to kind of get back, get that bad taste out of our mouth,” said Blazers head coach Charles Tiu after handing University of Perpetual Help DALTA an 81-64 loss.
Last season, the Altas sent the Balzers home during the play-in tournament for the last final four slot with a 76-64 win, waving goodbye from their playoff hopes.
Despite the convincing win in their first meeting for the season, Tiu does not want to be complacent as they have yet to prove anything.
“I still think we have a long way to go. There’s a lot of room for improvement. What we have to do is still we still have to get better as a team,” said the Ateneo product.
“I think you guys know naman na CSB maraming beses na yan, good start tapos nag-fefade sa end. So hopefully a different story this year.
“It’s only three games, we have a long way to go. We still haven’t played Letran, Mapua, San Beda, the three teams I said consistently that would be in the final four so still a long way to go for us. But at least we’re playing better,” he added.
Since even before the 98th season began, the Blazers head tactician emphasized that he sees Letran, San Beda, and Mapua as the three biggest threats for the Blazers’ title quest this year.
And, now they will be up against a big one on Friday, versus the defending champion Letran.
“I wish they won last game kasi malamang galit yung Letran so mahirap. Mga two years, three years ata sila hindi natalo. I don’t know. I hope we can give them a losing streak. They are tough, they always play physical and they’re the defending champs for a reason so its gonna be a hard game,” Tiu said.
“But hopefully… It should be a good quest for our team to see where we really stand.”