MANILA — CJ Cansino almost led the UP Fighting Maroons to its ninth win in 10 games on Sunday against the De La Salle Green Archers.

The 6-foot-2 veteran gunner displayed one of his best games since returning from injury, putting up 20 points, five rebounds, and two steals, while also pouring in eight of his total points during their comeback attempt in the final frame.

Leading MVP candidate Kevin Quiambao, however, spoiled the former UST Growling Tigers star’s performance and led the Green Archers to their seventh win of UAAP Season 86 instead.

• UAAP: Kevin Quiambao lives up to billing, steers La Salle past UP

This, according to Cansino, was a result of the Katipunan-based squad’s lack of consistency despite sitting at the top of the standings throughout the whole year.

“Sa tingin ko, ganon pa rin yung problem namin, yung inconsistency sa game,” he said during yesterday’s post-game.

“Para kaming rollercoaster.”

“Alam mo ‘yun, tataas ‘yung energy namin tapos bababa. Andon pa ‘rin yung problem namin na inconsistency,” he lamented.

The Fighting Maroons actually outscored their Taft-based counterparts in the second half, 40-33, and even shot better than La Salle throughout the game 48% to 39%.

But UP’s inconsistency, as Cansino noted, reflected especially on the rebounding aspect as they allowed DLSU to grab 17 offensive boards and turn them to 18 second chance points.

Maroons head coach Goldwin Monteverde also mirrored his star guard’s sentiments and correlated their defeat to their defensive intensity -- or lack thereof.

“As a team, we need to learn especially on the defensive end na maging consistent kami. There were parts in the game na ‘yung defense namin was giving in sa plays ng kabila,” he explained.

“Tumaas naman intensity namin in the third, and especially in the fourth, but again, we cannot play in spurts.”

Moving on, Cansino then said that they would just rely on this game to clean up their deficiencies and improve more as they enter their final four assignments in the elimination round.

“Kailangan namin panoorin yung game. Marami kaming matutunan sa game na ito na dadalhin namin sa season, and hopefully, matuto kami mga pagkakamali namin.”

“[Ang] mindset namin, kung ano man ‘yung ibigay na pagsubok sa amin, solution-oriented lang kami. ’Yun ang bini-build namin na culture. So hopefully, next game, mas ibibigay namin ‘yung kailangan para makuha ‘yung panalo.”

Watch more News on iWantTFC