USC Warriors to miss top wingman in Cesafi finals
The University of San Carlos’ (USC) championship hopes suffered a huge blow yesterday after top wingman Ian Ortega suffered a torn ACL in practice and will be out of action for at least six months.
The news was confirmed by Warriors assistant coach Julian Macoy and attending physician, Dr. Timothy Dejano.
Macoy said Ortega will have surgery to repair his ACL tomorrow and will start the rehabilitation process under Dejano’s supervision as soon as possible.
Macoy narrated that in of the team’ scrimmages, Ortega drove hard and abruptly stopped to pull up for a jumper. However, his knee was not able to withstand the strain and eventually buckled, leaving the player in a crumpled heap of pain on the floor.
Ortega had been out of action for most of the second round of the eliminations as well as the semifinals after suffering an injury to the very same knee after falling hard during a game against the University of the Visayas Green Lancers. He had been strengthening his knee and was preparing to give it a go during the finals before the unfortunate incident.
This development certainly dampens USC’s chances of capturing its very first championship in the Cesafi. Without Ortega, head coach Junthy Valenzuela is expected to give more minutes to former Ateneo Team B member Kiefer Lim, Fil-American Ian Tagapan and Prince Vaughn Malana.
In related news, USC’s finals opponent, the Southwestern University Cobras will also have to deal with their own injury woes after their ace wingman and top perimeter defender Adams Mohammed aggravated his leg injury. The Fil-Canadian Mohammed had seen action just once this season because of the said injury.
He played briefly during the semifinals against the University of San Jose-Recoletos and was expected to be a factor in the finals.
“Yeah, doctor recommended that I staying out for another month. I’ll see how I feel this week to see if I can practice on Monday,” said Mohammed in an interview.
Game 1 of the finals will start on October 13.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
