ZAVIER Lucero knew all too well the caliber of Justine Baltazar that he looked forward to facing off against the Gilas Pilipinas forward.
Yet as pumped as the Fil-Am forward was, Lucero didn't get the assignment as the task fell on the lap of his University of the Philippines teammate Carl Tamayo, incidentally Baltazar's teammate in the national team.
"I didn’t guard [Baltazar] too much, that was Carl. Playing against a Gilas player, I play against Carl every day so I get to see that first-hand," he said, recalling how Tamayo made Baltazar bleed for every single point in the Fighting Maroons' 61-59 come-from-behind win over the Green Archers on Thursday.
Still, Lucero had his moment, running down the open court and getting a timely assist from Joel Cagulangan to posterize Baltazar with a rim-rattling dunk in the final 5:48 of the game.
"To be honest, I don’t know how we got the ball," he said smiling. "Maymay [Cagulangan] had it and we had numbers. Carl was sprinting down as well so he kind of forced Balti to see him and I was able to come in late.
"And Maymay found me with a great pass and then the rest was just two points."
That crowd-pleasing play was part of UP's 12-2 run that enabled it to come back from a 52-45 fourth-quarter deficit and pull off the slim two-point win for its fifth straight victory in UAAP Season 84.
It was also the most memorable of his 21 points for the Fighting Maroons, on top of his 13 rebounds and two steals.
Still, Lucero believes that he still has ways to go despite his solid showing in the past four games for UP.
"It’s still an adjustment every time we step out because I haven't played here yet," said the 6-foot-6 high-flyer. "But as long as we’re getting wins and I can help my team in the ways that I can, the rest will come.
"I just try to control what I can control, and fight through the growing pains we have as a team. I thought we had a really good job tonight."
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