Blackwater head coach Jeffrey Cariaso is crossing his fingers after losing Rey Nambatac early in their eventual upset of TNT in a PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup encounter on Saturday.
The Bossing earned an 87-76 victory against the perennial contenders, but were a man short after the lefty playmaker suffered an ankle injury at the 6:58-mark of the opening period.
Nambatac did not return to the game.
He got hurt after his right ankle landed on the foot of Tropang Giga big man Barkley Ebona following a battle for the rebound just near the rim.
“Hopefully, it’s just a grade 1 sprain and nothing worse,” said the veteran mentor during the postgame presser at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
It was a huge downer for Nambatac, who was coming off a stellar Bossing debut in the conference opener last Wednesday.
There, he finished with 27 points and 10 assists to steer his new team past Meralco, 96-93, in Antipolo.
But his premature exit served as an avenue for the others to step up, which enabled the franchise to register their first 2-0 start since the 2019 Commissioner’s Cup under then-interim mentor Aris Dimaunahan.
Troy Rosario showed the way with 20 points and six rebounds, with RK Ilagan making the most out of Nambatac’s absence at the one-spot.
He even came close to a triple-double after tallying 15 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists.
Ilagan also tallied a pair of steals and a block in the 26 minutes he played off the bench to help Blackwater seize the early lead in the season-ending tilt.
“Tonight it was really a team effort. I don’t use that loosely because it really is a necessity when you play against a big team,” said Cariaso.
But of course, they all want Nambatac to heal up and return to action soon, and that would be on top of their priorities.
They head into a meeting against Converge on Wednesday, March 6, 3:00 PM, still at the Big Dome.
“We’ll do what we can in the next few days to get him ready,” said Cariaso.
“Hopefully, he can go on Wednesday and it’s feeling a little better.”
