One of the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons’ promising stars, third year guard, Kyles Lao suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury Friday afternoon during their game against the De La Salle University Green Archers in the FilOil Flying V Premiere Cup tournament.
The injury occurred at the 2:44 mark of the second quarter while Lao was defending Lorenzo Navarro. After a foul was called at the post, Lao immediately fell down and clutched his left knee. He was anguishing in pain, and he had to be carried to the locker room by his teammates.
Lao was immediately rushed to the nearby Cardinal Santos Medical Center for an MRI. Officials nearby told us that Lao heard a “light pop” before falling down. UP officials also confirmed that Kyles Lao suffered an ACL injury.
During the 77th Season of the UAAP Basketball Tournament, Kyles Lao registered 8.07 points per game in 36.8% field goal shooting and is one of UP’s best free throw shooters with a 67.4% clip. The young guard also averaged 2.07 rebounds and 1.43 assists per outing.
Rehabilitation for an ACL injury usually takes six to nine months. With this, Lao will miss the entire UAAP season, and will leave a huge hole in the UP rotation.
