ANTIPOLO - Blackwater is mulling replacing Daniel Ochefu as its import is dealing with a knee injury.
Head coach Jeff Cariaso said Ochefu's knee got hyperextended in their game against NLEX last Friday, with the injury looking to have a significant effect on Wednesday when he only had 11 points and seven rebounds in the Bossing's 99-88 loss to Terrafirma.
A replacement import is already on standby with 7-footer Robert Upshaw seen at the back of the Blackwater bench on Wednesday.
A product of Fresno State and Washington during his college days, the 32-year-old Upshaw recently played in China with the Suke Lions and the Jiangxi Ganchi. He also had stints in Taiwan, Turkey, Belarus, Lebanon, and Poland.
READ: Terrafirma keeps hot start as it goes 3-0 by repelling Blackwater
“As you can see, a big factor was Daniel nursing a slight knee injury. ‘Yung normal na galaw niya, hindi niya nagagawa,” said Cariaso.
As for Upshaw, Cariaso said the verdict's still out on him as everything still falls on the extent of Ochefu's injury.
“We are still really not sure. He is here because he is a good friend of Sed (Barefield). We are actually going to take a look at him but it's still not sure. We will see. It is really based on the injury of Daniel and we will see how he looks tomorrow (in practice).”
Cariaso spoke about what happened to Ochefu.
“What happened was he got checked up two days ago. It's really just time to heal. Medyo na-hyperextend ‘yung tuhod niya konti during the game. It's just really healing time."
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