UAAP: Injured Chris Koon ruled out of Ateneo game vs UST

Ateneo’s Chris Koon holding his left foot during the second quarter against UP in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Ateneo captain Chris Koon will miss the Blue Eagles’ game against the University of Santo Tomas on Wednesday due to a left foot injury.

Koon was carried off the court after a bad fall with 3:11 left in the second quarter of Ateneo’s loss to UP in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball opener Saturday night.

“It’s not good. I’m sure he’ll miss the next game. How serious it is will be what we see on the x-ray or an MRI, if that’s necessary,” said Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin.

“He’s got swelling already. He felt it was pretty serious. We’ll have to wait and see. We just have to go deeper into the bench now.”

READ: UAAP: UP dominates Ateneo in Season 87 opener

Koon played through a fracture in the same foot last season when Ateneo got dethroned by UP in the Final Four.

Ateneo hopes to draw another big game from Joshua Lazaro, who stepped up with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Shawn Tuano, who also scored 11 against the Fighting Maroons to backstop rookie Jared Bahay. Bahay led the Eagles with 13 points on top of five rebounds and four assists in his UAAP debut.

Baldwin cited lapses on the defensive end in the loss to the Maroons.Although he noted the defensive lapses, Baldwin was still proud of the young Blue Eagles for fighting adversities despite dropping their opening game. 

“There were certainly several aspects that leave a lot to be desired. I thought our defense wasn’t executing what we asked them to do, wasn’t focused on particular strengths of the UP players. And I think that’s a mental mistake. I think physically we really contested today. I was really proud of how hard the guys played,” he said.

“There’s a lot of adverse conditions there. When Chris goes down he only plays seven minutes in the game. And you know we’re already pretty young off the bench. So I was happy with the toughness the team displayed.”

Baldwin also lamented his team’s atrocious 19-of-40 shooting from the free throw line.

READ: UAAP: Jared Bahay shows readiness in Ateneo debut amid boos

“It was horrendous. You can’t win game. When you get to the line 40 times, you should probably win the game, and we didn’t win the game. In fact, we weren’t even close. So free throw shooting was really huge for us,” Baldwin said.

“That’s a very strong basketball team. That’s an outstanding roster. And you know, when you’ve got guys like Sean Alter who gets a minute of court time and Denzil Walker who didn’t play, and other guys of their caliber and their talent not getting much playing time, I guess there’s a reason for that.”

Ateneo will try to bounce back but Baldwin knows it won’t be easy this time against a UST side, which will have more firepower compared to last year’s squad. The Growling Tigers, who finished at the bottom of the standings in Season 86 with a 2-12 record, will now have the services of former Ateneo star Forthsky Padrigao and Kyle Paranada to backstop Nic Cabañero.

“We know they have some really good personnel. Cabañero is one of the real-class players in the league. Forthsky at the point presents problems. They’ve got some transfers coming in this year that are good basketball players. It’s going to test us,” said Baldwin.

“I expect that our team is going to show growth throughout the year. We’ve got a lot of young players that just through the experience of playing these games, they’re going to learn a lot. The goal is to stay focused on the details. Stay focused on the possessions. Don’t try to win the game in the first quarter, in the first half. Just do your job and then adjust individually.”