Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas vice chairman Robbie Puno said he’s “proud” of Gilas Pilipinas despite having nine players ejected following an ugly brawl during a Fiba World Cup Qualifier against Australia Monday night.
Puno said the players held their own against an Australian side that he thought to have had “an attempt to disrespect us” that started when members of the Aussie team removed decals from the Philippine Arena court during their closed door practice on Sunday.
READ: SBP urges Fiba probe on removal of stickers from PH Arena court
“I think there’s an attempt to disrespect us and I think we stood our ground and I think I’m proud of the Gilas Pilipinas boys for standing our ground, fighting for the Filipino people,” Puno told reporters after game. “But of course, it’s an unfortunate incident. We don’t want these things to happen.”
Puno added the players were also able to show that Gilas is “a united team.”
“It’s a little bit of an embarrassment I guess but we stand together. This was a bad situation that I think we can only hope to get some good out of it and say that we showed ourselves as a united team,” he said.
“A team that fights together and doesn’t back down from anyone so let that be a lesson to everybody else.”
A free-for-all broke out with 4:01 left in the third quarter and only resumed after a thorough review by game officials.
READ: Brawl breaks out in Gilas-Australia game
Andray Blatche, Calvin Abueva, Japeth Aguilar, Terrence Romeo, Jayson Castro, Carl Cruz, Roger Pogoy, Matthew Wright and Troy Rosario got tossed for Gilas while four Aussies namely Daniel Kickers, Thon Maker, Nathan Sobey and Christopher Goulding were thrown out.