Olu Ashaolu continued to play through his knee injury on Sunday.
Still with a ruptured patellar tendon, the 6-foot-5 Nigerian-Canadian powered the NLEX Road Warriors past the debuting Rashad Woods, 123-107, for a 2-0 start in the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup.
Ashaolu dominated the paint on his way to 27 points on 12-of-20 shooting along with 13 rebounds, three assists, and a steal in the 34 minutes and 14 seconds he played.
And NLEX interim head coach Jojo Lastimosa was deeply impressed with their import.
“Olu’s awesome,” said the PBA great. “He’s defying the doctor’s advice and I have news that he has actually a 70 percent tear… it means half of it is dangling already.
“And I don’t know how he’s playing [like that],” he added. “You gotta give the guy credit. He’s showing termendous heart because he really wants to play.
“He’s defying doctors’ orders.”
But as much as Ashaolu can brave his knee injury, Lastimosa said that they won’t be prolonging their import’s struggles, as they have called Aaron Fuller to replace the 30-year-old.
Fuller is already accustomed to NLEX, as he reinforced the Road Warriors in last season’s Governor’s Cup. The wide-bodied 28-year-old helped NLEX reach the quarterfinals.
“Aaron is on the way,” shared Lastimosa.
“And the deal is if he (Ashaolu) can rehab while Aaron is here and get back and be healthy, then we will have a good situation going.”
Fuller will be arriving this coming Tuesday, but he won’t play on Wednesday’s game versus the Magnolia Hotshots, meaning that Ashaolu will be the one playing in that bout.
“Aaron is on Tuesday so he won’t be ready on Wednesday. Olu is still the import on Wednesday.”
