‘No excuses’: Masked Cabagnot shrugs off pain to help Beermen

Alex Cabagnot wears a protective mask for his broken nose. PBA IMAGES

Much to the surprise of everyone inside Mall of Asia Arena, Alex Cabagnot defied a broken nose to play a key role in San Miguel’s dominant 118-93 win over Blackwater on Friday.

Coach Leo Austria shared that it was Cabagnot himself who insisted in playing as the Beermen started their toughest stretch yet in the All-Filipino tournament.

“I told him we will not force him to play, but he’s the one who insisted. But if the doctor says that he can play and you want to play, as long as there is a mask, we will allow him,” the mentor said.

Wearing a black protective mask for the first time, Cabagnot showed no signs of distractions as he dished out 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals in the Beermen’s fifth straight win for a 6-1 card.

“I would love to take it off but I can’t,” he said. “That’s the deal we made, I have to wear a mask and I can play or I don’t wear a mask and I don’t play.”

Cabagnot shared he is postponing surgery, a sacrifice he’s willing to take to help San Miguel in its bid for a third straight Philippine Cup title.

“Actually, it does (need surgery) but if I do surgery it would take six weeks (of recovery) so I’ll miss (the rest of Philippine Cup). I’m just gonna suck it up and wait it out,” he said. “It’s fractured so there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s gonna heal but it’s still gonna be displaced.”

As long as the mask is on, Cabagnot is determined to just wager on despite the risk of aggravating it with more hits to the face.

“It’s still a little bit swollen. I got hit a couple times but hopefully it will be OK and I just have to ice it. It’s still fractured but we’ll try to work through it. No excuses,” he said.

“We’re in the middle of the season now and there are certain things you got to do and you got to take care of. We have to put the priorities at hand first.”