By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team just couldn’t catch a break after veteran shooting guard Roger Pogoy will also miss the final window of the FIBA World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers.
TNT Tropang Giga’s superstar scorer injured his left ankle and suffered a bone bruise during their game against the Meralco Bolts last February 17, 2023.
Due to the pain and discomfort he felt, Pogoy failed to come back in the second half against Meralco and also didn’t suit up against the San Miguel Beermen last February 19, 2023.
“Masakit talaga. Hindi ‘yung maga ‘yung sakit e, ‘yung may dito sa loob ng buto. So tingin ko talaga kailangan ipahinga. ‘Di talaga kaya this week, sa Gilas,” said Pogoy.
The Cebuano sniper was supposed to lead Gilas in the last two games against Lebanon and Jordan in front of the Filipino fans at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan as one of the hand-picked mainstays from the last FIBA Qualifying windows.
Pogoy became one of their most consistent performers alongside Dwight Ramos and Carl Tamayo and is currently averaging 8.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in the ongoing international hoops tourney.
He then became the fourth key member of the national team that will be out of the active roster following the decisions made by Kai Sotto, Carl Tamayo, and Japeth Aguilar.
The duo of Sotto and Tamayo are all set for a highly-anticipated debut in the Japan B. League while Aguilar is still nursing an injury and already ruled himself out of Window 6 a couple of weeks ago.
With Sotto, Tamayo, Aguilar, and Pogoy out, head coach Chot Reyes and the rest of the staff are already planning out the necessary adjustments.
The squad will still have June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, the Ravena brothers, and the returning shooter Jordan Heading who is expected to fill in the role of Pogoy.
Gilas is looking to patch things up as they take on the hungry Lebanon team on February 24 and Jordan on February 27.
