Aug 18, 2018

Olu Ashaolu makes an impression with his courage to play through pain

ANTIPOLO - NLEX import Olu Ashaolu earned praises for producing a monster game despite playing through pain in the Road Warriors' 103-90 victory over TNT KaTropa at the start of their PBA Governors' Cup campaign Friday night here.

Ashaolu finished with 33 points and 23 rebounds despite nursing a partial tear on his patellar tendon suffered during a tune-up game against Meralco two weeks ago that may force NLEX management to look for a replacement.

Interim coach Jojo Lastimosa bared that the Road Warriors are looking around for a replacement but Ashaolu has vowed to do everything he can to give the team a strong start in the season-ending conference.

"I'll try to keep playing as long as I can," the Nigerian-American import said. "I don't wanna stop playing but obviously I gotta take care of my knee for my future. But I'm here to do a job so we'll figure it out."

Lastimosa, calling the shots for the Road Warriors because head coach Yeng Guiao is currently in Jakarta to mentor the national team in the Asian Games, paid tribute to Ashaolu's determination in playing through pain.

Sponsored content:
"(His injury is) something that you really have to worry about because it can completely tear so that's a problem. But you can see that he was all-out," Lastimosa said.

"He had 33 and 23 with a half a leg not functioning, so you can see he really wanted to win that game for the players because it could be his last game. He actually said goodbye to the players," added Lastimosa. "But since we haven't found a replacement yet, sabi niya, 'I'm going to step in and do what I can.'"

TNT coach Nash Racela was also impressed with Ashaoulu's play, especially after learning the rival import wasn't 100 percent healthy.

"The opposing import overpowered everyone and I heard he's even injured so grabe, grabe yung character ng import," said Racela. "At the same time, I think that inspired the locals as well so ang ganda ng performance din ng mga locals."

Despite his productive outing, Ashaoulu was still disappointed with himself.

Sponsored content:
"I missed a few easy ones down low, a few ones that I couldn't get my explosion," he said. "My teammates kept me going. I'm not happy that I missed so many easy ones so hopefully this injury doesn't keep me down."(JT)