ABL: One-game ban on 3 PH Patriots, 2 San Miguel Beermen
MANILA, Philippines—Five players from the AirAsia Philippine Patriots and the San Miguel Beermen have been slapped with fines and suspensions after figuring in a bench-clearing brawl in the Asean Basketball League last week.
Banned for one game were the Patriots’ Anthony Johnson, Erick Rodriguez and Ardy Larong and the Beermen’s Aries Dimaunahan and Junjun Cabatu on top of “fines for undisclosed amounts.”
Patriots import Nakiea Miller was also fined for “disparaging remarks” against the Beermen on his Twitter account.
But the league said the “players’ suspensions will be served after this weekend’s round of games” as tournament rules allow the involved parties to appeal the decision.
The Sunday match featured a lot of shoving and trash talking before the tense situation got out of hand when Dimaunahan whacked Johnson as the prolific American import went for a layup late in the third quarter.
In its review, the league cited the incident as “the flagrant foul which sparked the altercation” in the duel won by San Miguel, 68-66.
Johnson reacted with a head lock on Dimaunahan, which led to a free-for-all among the players of both teams.
Only Johnson and Dimaunahan were later ejected from the game, but upon review, the league also penalized Rodriguez, Larong and Cabatu for their prominent roles in the melee.
Johnson’s suspension is expected to hurt the Patriots since he leads the team in scoring with an average of 23.56 points.
The Patriots—who share top spot with the Westports Malaysia Dragons at 7-2—hit the road on Saturday against the Indonesia Warriors at The Mahaka Square in Jakarta.
Just close behind at 7-3, the Beermen play host to the Chang Thailand Slammers also on Saturday at the Ynares Sports Arena.
