Patriots Import Injured Again

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Patriots could miss the services of import Anthony Johnson when they take on Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma on Saturday in the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

Johnson, who returned to action in the Patriots’ 54-48 win over the Chang Thailand Slammers in Bangkok, re-injured his hamstring which could likely force him to take another rest.

“He actually felt the pain after the game and he’s being checked by Dr. (Raul) Canlas to see if there’s a need for him to rest,” said coach Louie Alas.

The former PBA import had 13 points and seven rebounds against the Slammers highlighted by a triple with three minutes that put the Patriots up for good. He incurred the injury for the first time during the Patriots’ win over the Brunei Barracudas at last October 3.

In that contest, he scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds but got hurt when he attempted to save the ball from going out of bounds with five minutes left in the game. The Patriots won, 71-62.

The squad co-owned by Harbour Centre’s Mikee Romero and businessman Tony Boy Cojuangco are back playing at home after two hard-fought wins on the road. That propelled them to gain sole possession of top spot with a perfect 4-0 slate.

“This will be a good chance for the boys to relax a bit. It was a tough two weeks for us,” said RP Patriots team manager Erick Arejola. “The game on Saturday will give our boys the benefit of a long rest.”

It will be the first time that the Patriots will take on Satria Muda since their masterful three-game sweep of last season’s rugged title series.

A lot has changed for the Indonesians since that series as their core players of last year’s team were forced to play for BritAma’s other team in the local National Baskeball League season.

Despite the presence of wily guard Mario Wuysang and Filipinos Kiko Adriano and Don Camaso, Satria Muda had just one win in four games.

Jonas Terrado, Manila Bulletin