AFTERMATH | THE KEAN BACLAAN INJURY

So that Chris Gavina tirade over Wello Lingolingo’s ejection aged pretty badly.

It turns out Kean Baclaan suffered a possible Grade 3 MCL tear, which could sideline the DLSU star for more than six weeks. With how the UAAP season is shaping up, it’s safe to say he’s done for the year. That’s a huge blow, especially since the Green Archers already lost Mason Amos to a similar injury.

So even if Gavina tries to justify his outburst, the fallout hurts La Salle far more than it does UE. The Red Warriors remain winless at 0–6, and even with Lingolingo in the lineup, it’s hard to see them stringing together wins given how tight the competition is.

Lingolingo has also been handed a three-game suspension, which honestly feels strange. If the foul was really that severe, shouldn’t it warrant a longer ban? And if not, why stretch it to three games? It feels like the middle ground nobody asked for.

Now, DLSU will need to dig deep. They’ve already lost several key players from Season 87 — Kevin Quiambao, CJ Austria, Raven Gonzales, and Joshua David — and Baclaan and Amos were supposed to fill that void. At least they still have Mike Phillips and Jacob Cortez, but the rest of the roster needs to step up big time. JC Macalalag, EJ Gollena, Earl Abadam, Vhoris Marasigan, and Andrei Dungo haven’t shown much improvement from last season because they were mostly playing support roles.

To make matters worse, Bright Nwankwo hasn’t been the same kind of inside presence as Collins Akowe, Mo Konateh, or Precious Momowei. That puts even more pressure on Topex Robinson to squeeze production out of his bench, especially since Cortez and Phillips are now marked men.

With DLSU sitting at 3–3, the Final Four is no guarantee.

I get why Gavina was furious, but I also think the refs made the right call. And looking at how things turned out, DLSU may have won that game — but UE might have just cost them their season.