Jaypee Mendoza was in high spirits after a nasty fall
When Alaska Aces head coach Alex Compton walked into the post-game proper after their 94-89 win against Rain or Shine, he was visibly shaken.
With 26.1 seconds to go and the Aces up 93-89, a miss by James Yap was corralled by 26-year-old Jaypee Mendoza. Mendoza though landed awkwardly, hitting the back of his head on the parquet of the Cuneta Astrodome. Jericho Cruz then dove for the loose ball, accidentally kneeing a Mendoza’s neck.
“You saw the whole thing, nung bumagsak siya tumama yung ulo niya sa floor, and there was something whiplash, but very very minimal but the bigger problem was when he fell down, he got kneeled in the neck, yun ang mabigat. The muscle went into spasm” Alaska team doctor Dr. Facundo Sul said.
“Di ko naman sadya. I was going for the ball. Lahat tayo gusto namang manalo. I didn’t mean to hurt him. I feel so bad for him,” Cruz said. “I’m wishing him a speedy recovery.”
The former San Beda Red Lion could not feel his legs afterwards and had to be stretchered off to the dugout.
“First of all, I think Jaypee Mendoza is going to be okay. I was in la-la land the last 30 seconds. I’m sure that he’s going to be alright,” Compton shared trying to fight off tears.
“It just brought back memories of what happened to Gene [Tejada]. He is a good friend of mine and he’s doing okay right now but it all just came back to me.”
An hour after the game, the 6-foot-3 forward was able to leave the locker room and share what happened.
“Nafee-feel ko naman yung legs at kamay, pero kanina parang di ko ma-feel yung sa leeg ko. Parang di ko maramdaman. Kinabahan ako. Ang sakit eh. Parang ang bigat ng dumagan sa akin. Kaya nahirapan akong igalaw. Pagdating ko (sa dugout), may ginawang test sila doc,” he shared.
“The first thing I did was examine everything, his extremities were functioning so we don’t want to have another Eugene, that’s what we are worried about,” Dr. Sul added.
“After a while, parang nag-loosen up naman yung leeg ko, pero kahit papaano, may pain pa rin,” Mendoza, who is averaging 6.0 points in 20.36 minutes of court time, said.
Just like everyone else, the first thing that came to Mendoza’s mind was the incident that occurred last May 12, 2006.
In a game held at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo, 25-year-old Eugene Tejada, who played for Purefoods, fractured his spine after a rebounding skirmish. Further adding to damage he sustained from the impact was when Mick Pennisi, who was with Red Bull, lost balance and fell on a prone Tejada.
“Actually yung kay Eugene (Tejada), napanood ko yun eh. So nung nangyari sa akin na hindi ko maramdaman, parang biglang pumasok sa isip ko yun,” Mendoza shared.
And the team’s doctor is optimistic that Mendoza can recover by Alaska’s match-up against Ginebra on Sunday.
“I think he should be okay by Sunday, hopefully. I think we will have another evaluation,” Sul said.
“Nagpapasalamat naman ako kay God na safe naman, wala namang serious ‘tong injury na ‘to. Thankful lang talaga ako kay Lord,” Mendoza added.
Incidents like these only show how hard a life of an athlete is, risking life and limb for the enjoyment of the crowd.
