The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel could not fully celebrate their successful debut in the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup on Sunday evening after Japeth Aguilar went down with an apparent eye injury.
Teammate Stanley Pringle accidentally poked the 6-foot-9 forward in the eye with 6:54 left in the game.
After Pringle attacked the rim and kicked the ball out, his hand hit the eye of Aguilar, who had followed the explosive combo guard on his way to the hoop.
Aguilar sat along the baseline afterwards, visibly in pain. He did not return to the game, as staff rushed him to the hospital. Aguilar left with eight points, 11 caroms, three assists, and three blocks.
“He got poked in the eye, ironically, by his teammate, by Stanley. It was a deep, deep poke, the one where the finger gets to the side of the eye and gets stuck in there.
“It wasn’t just a scratch. The finger really got in,” described coach Tim Cone.“We sent him to the hospital before the game ended.”
There is no official diagnosis for the condition of his eye yet. Meanwhile, Cone is, of course, hoping that Aguilar will be fine.
It will also help that Ginebra will have six days before facing the Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters on Saturday, which could be enough time for the second-generation cager to recover.
“Hopefully he’s alright. We have five, six days before we play again. So hopefully, he’ll get right,” the multi-titled bench strategist said. “We’ll know more as the information comes in.
“At this point, we don’t know what’s going on but we hope it’s not too major. The eyes are a delicate thing.”
