Mayhem

BOCAUE, Bulacan—What was supposed to be a showcase of the strides made by Philippine basketball and its national team turned out to be one of its darkest moments on the world stage.

In front of a big home crowd, Gilas Pilipinas absorbed a 53-89 loss to Australia in a Fiba World Cup 2019 Qualifiers game following a rumble in the third period in the 55,000-seater Philippine Arena here.

Nine players from the Philippines and four from Australia were ejected in the aftermath of the brawl that could also lead to huge repercussions as Gilas navigates the second round of qualifying.

The game was stopped with 4:01 remaining in the third quarter and the Boomers comfortably ahead, 79-48, after some physical play involving RR Pogoy and Chris Goulding.

Another Aussie player, Daniel Kickert, hit Pogoy with an elbow, triggering the free-for-all that also saw Gilas players on the bench Carl Bryan Cruz and Calvin Abueva getting involved.

Andray Blatche, Jayson Castro and Terrence Romeo then swarmed at Kickert as the incident worsened when fans hurled chairs at the Aussies.

Pogoy, Blatche, Castro, Romeo, Cruz, Abueva, Troy Rosario, Matthew Wright and Japeth Aguilar were ejected, while NBA player Thon Maker, Kickert, Goulding and Nathan Sobey were also slapped with disqualifying fouls.

The game resumed with Gilas left with just three players in June Mar Fajardo, Gabe Norwood and Baser Amer.

The match ended in the third quarter when the three Filipinos fouled out.

While several fans inside the venue were loudly cheering for Gilas following the brawl, the incident was met with disdain and disappointment online, especially after former Gilas player Marc Pingris was captured taking a selfie with the team during a lull following the melee.

“Embarassing,” former Gilas captain Jimmy Alapag said on Twitter.

“Class,” Australian NBA player Andrew Bogut sarcastically tweeted after posting an image of Pingris’ selfie.

The game was supposed to provide Fiba a glimpse of the cavernous arena, one of the venues for the Fiba World Cup 2023 which the country is hosting with Indonesia and Japan.

Instead, it will now be remembered as the site of one of the worst brawls the sport has witnessed.