Taulava bucks bloody cut to help lift Express

Asi Taulava of Air21 (light) with his cut on top of his left eye brow from Dior Lowhorn of GlobalPort (dark). NUKI SABIO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Asi Taulava wasn’t going to let a bloody cut stop him from helping his squad.

After sustaining a nasty cut above his left eye in the first half, Taulava returned to give Air21 a lift towards a 106-102 victory over Globalport Wednesday night.

Dior Lowhorn’s elbow to the forehead left the 41-year-old giant all bloodied, but Taulava refused to go to the hospital and leave his squad to get his wound stitched up.

Instead, Taulava just had the doctors tape up his wound so he could get back to the game that could bolster the Express’ bid for a twice-to-beat edge.

With more than six minutes left in the third, his wound started bleeding again, pushing the medics to double the tape on the wound.

But that still didn’t slow down Taulava, who went on to score eight in the pivotal fourth and still pluck down crucial boards down the stretch.

“The way I look at it was really meant for us. Just imagine the lose-ball rebound it went to the hand of Asi,” said head coach Franz Pumaren.

“I guess it compensated what happened to Asi. I think he’ll be getting a minimum of 7-10 stitches.”

Pumaren said Taulava was determined to see the game through despite the bothersome gash.

“I was ready to bite the bullet already but knowing the gladiator in him…He just told me at halftime that he’ll put a first aid thing and he could come back,” Pumaren said.

“In the third, his forehead was already bleeding. But he wanted to finish the game. We have a mission to accomplish.”

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