Alex Cabagnot sidelined with foot injury, no surgery needed

San Miguel guard Alex Cabagnot. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

San Miguel Beer’s starting guard Alex Cabagnot is expected to be out for three to four weeks due to a foot injury, according to his head coach Leo Austria.

Cabagnot missed the Beermen’s game against GlobalPort on Wednesday and most likely his team’s next three games due to a partial tear in his right foot.

“According to the doctor, he will be missing three to four weeks and probably, he won’t be able to play until the second week of February,”Austria told reporters in Filipino after San Miguel beat GlobalPort, 107-93.

Austria added the team is in no rush to bring back Cabagnot with the playoffs already in his mind.

“We’re not in a hurry for him to get back but what we want is for him to get to 100 percent because it’s really hard if we don’t have Alex going into the playoffs,” said Austria.

Austria assured the 35-year-old Cabagnot won’t require any surgery to fully heal.

“He just need to rest and I think that because of his work ethic, it would be easy for him to get back into shape,” he said.

“Right now, he’s still working out so that he’ll be able to sustain his conditioning. We want to give him rest because we don’t want to aggravate his situation right now.”

Brian Heruela filled in for Cabagnot and had his best game yet as a member of the Beermen, finishing with 17 points, five assists and six steals in 23 minutes off the bench.

“We know that Brian can do that. He’s capable of playing huge for us and he showed it tonight,”said SMB swingman Marcio Lassiter.

“Alex is definitely a big part of the team and we’re going to miss him but at the same time, next guy has to step up and it’s not just going to be one guy coming off the bench, we have multiple guys capable of stepping up for us,” Lassiter, who also had 17 points, added.

San Miguel is currently on top of the standings with a 5-0 record, but its bid to win the Philippine Cup title for the fourth straight time gets tougher from here with Barangay Ginebra next on Sunday before a showdown with surging Magnolia on Feb. 4.