Andray Blatche of Gilas Pilipinas going after Daniel Kickert. The Australian gave RR Pogoy a forearm following a collission involving Chris Goulding. (MB photo | Rio Deluvio)

by Jonas Terrado

Philippine basketball suffered a huge blackeye in 2018 after Gilas Pilipinas figured in a nasty brawl with Australia during the third quarter of their FIBA World Cup Qualifiers match in early-July.

Gilas was already behind by a wide margin at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan when Roger Pogoy’s hard foul on Chris Goulding with 4:01 remaining in the third quarter prompted Australia’s Daniel Kickert to hit the Gilas forward.

Things got out of hand when almost all Gilas players left the bench and landed punches and kicks at several Australian cagers.

The game resumed with June Mar Fajardo, Gabe Norwood and Baser Amer the only ones left on the floor. Fajardo and Norwood later fouled out, forcing the game to abruptly end with the Boomers prevailing 89-53.

There were more ramifications Gilas faced in the aftermath of the match.

Ten players were handed suspensions ranging from one to six games, namely Calvin Abueva (six games), Pogoy, Jalalon and Carl Bryan Cruz (five games each), Terrence Romeo, Jayson Castro, Troy Rosario and Andray Blatche (three games each), and Aguilar and Matthew Wright (one game each).

The most severe punishment was received by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, which was asked by FIBA to pay P13 million for the incident. FIBA also ordered Gilas’ home match against Qatar last September to be played under closed door while a ban of two more games was placed during a three-year probationary period.

Tags: Australia , Australia s Daniel Kickert , Calvin Abueva , Carl Bryan Cruz , Chot Reyes , Chris Goulding , FIBA World Cup qualifiers , Gabe Norwood , Gilas Pilipinas , Japeth Aguilar , Jayson Castro , Jio Jalalon , June Mar Fajardo , Nathan Sobey , Philippine basketball , Roger Pogoy , Terrence Romeo , Troy Rosario