After thirteen ejections, nine from gilas and four from Australia, only three players were left on the court for Gilas Pilipinas. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
The show must go on.
With nine players ejected after a nasty brawl broke out late in the third quarter, Gilas Pilipinas played three-on-five against Australia in their heated duel in the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Monday night.
Out of the 12, only Gabe Norwood, June Mar Fajardo and Baser Amer kept their emotions in check and displayed true class that nine of their teammates failed to show.
READ: Brawl breaks out in Gilas-Australia game
Andray Blatche, Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, Jayson Castro, Roger Pogoy, Troy Rosario, Japeth Aguilar, Matthew Wright and Carl Cruz got tossed after a thorough review by the officials.
The bizarre game of three-on-five went on for a couple of minutes until Amer was the last man standing for the Philippines after Fajardo and Norwood intentionally fouled out prompting officials to call the match off.
The ugly game ended at the 1:57 mark of the third period with Australia winning by 36, 89-53.
Four Aussies namely Daniel Kickert, Nathan Sobey, Thon Maker and Christopher Goulding were tossed.
The Filipinos still advanced to the next round of the continental qualifiers with a 4-2 record in their group.