De La Salle head coach Topex Robinson is hoping to have Evan Nelle in the team’s final first-round push against University of the East this weekend. 

The star guard was out for La Salle as it suffered a narrow 67-64 loss against the unbeaten University of the Philippines on Wednesday night, Oct. 18, due to a quad contusion. 

Though it was expected to be a short term injury and the graduating Nelle could have played for the bounce back-seeking Green Archers, Robinson opted not to let him out on the floor.

Nelle’s absence was painfully evident in La Salle’s third-quarter collapse that saw the squad only make one field goal on a Kevin Quaimabao triple before being met with UP’s 21-0 run.

“Hopefully we are gonna have him this Saturday, but we wanna make sure that he is gonna be ready because the span of the games are gonna be shorter, so we don’t wanna rush it. We have other guys who are willing to step up for Evan. We don’t wanna gamble on him if he is not really ready. Hopefully, we are gonna have him, that's gonna be a day to day for us,” said Robinson. 

Nelle, who has been joining forces with Quiambao in their campaign this season, was sorely missed as the Green Archers absorbed back-to-back losses for a 3-3 slate in the standings heading into their final game against the equally struggling Red Warriors side. 

Still, Robinson was glad to have other players who are willing to step up in Nelle’s stead as he nurses himself back to full health. 

“Did you ever imagine that we would not have Evan Nelle in our team against UP? People are looking at the three points that we scored in the third, those missed shots, those shots we didn’t make. But we don’t have Evan in our lineup coming into this game. I hope people remember that. We have guys who are just willing to take care of each other, cover for each other,” he added.