The Philippine men’s basketball team was dealt with a huge blow ahead of the 30th Southeast Asian Games with Roger Pogoy forced to sit out the competition due to an injury.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone said that the TNT KaTropa gunner has been ruled out for the biennial tournament after being diagnosed with a disc bulge in his lumbosacral joint, which needs a couple of weeks to heal.
“It’s a big blow because he was one of our best shooters and two-way players,” said Cone. “He will be difficult to replace. At this point, we are exploring various scenarios before we settle on our response to RR’s exclusion.”
Cone shared that he is still talking over with his coaching staff on who to tap to replace Pogoy from the 12-man roster before the start of the men’s basketball competition on December 4.

Cone considered players Greg Slaughter, Scottie Thompson and Arthur dela Cruz, as well as Jayson Castro, who has just came back from injury./ASC, WDJ