Pogoy out of Cambodia SEA Games

MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas will embark on its redemption drive in the coming Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia without ace gunner RR Pogoy.

TNT’s Pogoy sustained a fractured finger in Game 3 of the PBA Governors’ Cup finals last Friday and has to undergo surgery, making it impossible for him to join the Gilas quest for the lost gold in the May 5-17 SEAG.

“‘Yung sa SEA Games, wala na,” said Pogoy, who showed up in Sunday’s Game 4 in street clothes and wearing protected dressing on his broken right pinky.

“Sabi rin ni (Gilas) coach Chot (Reyes), hindi na ako aabot sa SEA Games.”

Pogoy is waiting for a hand specialist’s recommendation on whether to stay in the country or go overseas for the operation on the finger, which he fractured when he tried to poke the ball away from Ginebra’s Christian Standhardinger.

The Cebuano hotshot couldn’t give a definite timetable for his return but teammate Calvin Oftana, who had a similar injury before, shared it would need a healing period of two to three months.

Pogoy is one of only two holdovers from the ill-fated delegation in Vietnam who are still part of the 28-man “Redeem Team” pool for the Cambodia SEAG.

Six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer is the other. But even Fajardo himself is doubtful for this trip as he’s still on the road to recovery.

“The Kraken” tore an MCL during the Beermen’s game against Japanese heavyweight Ryukyu Golden Kings in the East Asia Super League Champions Week last March 2 and hasn’t played since.

Naturalized player Justin Brownlee, meanwhile, is tipped to lead Gilas’ bring-back-the-gold mission in Phnom Penh along with the healthy mainstays of the pool like Standhardinger, Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, CJ Perez, Oftana, Mikey Williams and Chris Newsome.