Meralco is keeping its fingers crossed that Aaron Black would be spared from any major injury after the Bolts guard hurt his right knee in the team’s 74-51 win over the Magnolia Hotshots on Sunday, April 28, in the 2024 Philippine Cup.

Black went down grimacing in pain after trying to attack the defense of Hotshots big man James Laput at the 10:09 mark of the third. He appeared to have a hard time putting weight to his knee and worse, reported to have heard “something” pop before he was helped off the floor by his teammates.

“Accidental yung bangga pero sabi niya, hindi lang kirot eh. Parang he heard something pop,” said Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo.

“We’re praying for AB. I know when he was in college nagkaroon rin siya ng knee injury eh but the thing there he wasn’t able to walk,” added the amiable coach.

It was the second straight game that Meralco had some sort of injury scare with its star guards after Chris Newsome also failed to finish their last game due to a muscle issue on his knee. 

Trillo, though, knew it was a little different now with Black and that they could only wait for the results of the MRI and hope for the best.

“We just have to wait for the MRI. We know Aaron will be back eventually but for now, we can’t really say anything. Our prayers are with AB and we’ll see when the MRI comes out.” he added.

In any eventuality that Black will have to be sidelined for an extended period of time, it would be a huge blow for Meralco’s campaign especially as it is currently in a tight race for the remaining six playoff seats.

The Bolts are in tie with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and the Terrafirma Dyip at sixth to eighth places with similar 5-5 records.

Meralco will have a five-day break before wrapping up the eliminations with a clash against the top seed San Miguel in an out-of-town game in Batangas on Saturday, May 4.