AS if a major injury to Mason Amos wasn’t enough, another big gun for La Salle went down on Wednesday’s UAAP Season 88 games at the Mall of Asia Arena.
With a quarter remaining in the game against University of the East, the Green Archers were facing an eight-point deficit - that was actually once as big as 21 - in the second half.
After trimming the lead to just five, a tussle for a loose ball on the green-and-white side then saw Wello Lingolingo take a dive to attempt a steal, inadvertently injuring the right leg of Kean Baclaan, who at that point had 17 points.
Not long after, Baclaan was stretchered off the floor and wheelchaired to an ambulance after the game.
“The way he was screaming, I never heard him like that,” said Jacob Cortez, who was on the courty as well at the time. “And I was watching him getting stretchered off the court. At first it was sad, but it’s also motivation for us.”
In Baclaan’s absence, Cortez went on a 10-point tear, ultimately forcing overtime. He followed that up with another five points in additional time, ultimately enough to fend off the Red Warriors, 111-110.
Though close calls like these are normal for Cortez, especially with their roller-coaster season so far, the added loss of Baclaan drove the La Salle guard to the point of ruthless aggression.
As he put it, “You could say I was super eager, but then again, I had to lock in and focus because that tends to make me gigil. But luckily, I was mature enough to relax, stay composed, and I think I got my teammates to stay composed as well, and that ended up with a win.”
Lion-turned-Archer comes up clutch
That now makes two key Green Archers out due to injuries. Though the exact timetable for Amos’ MCL tear is still to be determined, estimations point to at least a month before a viable return.
With Baclaan now part of the injured list as well, a sizeable void will be left on the backcourt.
Fortunately for Taft, Cortez is more than up for the tall task, but also well aware that hero-ball isn’t the key to turning the tide.
“I expect me and my guys will step up. Whoever’s on the court with me, we trust one another, and as we saw Kean went down, everyone knows that they gotta step up,” he said.
This time, however, Cortez isn’t just looking to tackling the challenge of being their closer or leading scorer. With the guard from Parañaque having more than enough experience both here and back in San Beda, it’s also time for him to be one of the leaders.
“I think what I just realized is our team needs another leader on the court. You could say Earl [Abadam] and Mike [Phillips] are the co-captains, but I had to take it upon myself to lead these guys,” he said.
“We’re gonna take this as motivation, but we’re gonna dedicate every game to him and Mason. It’s all about who’s up next and you just got to stick together through tough times like this.”
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