The brawl between Gilas Pilipinas and Australia during the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Monday night was the height of “unsportsmanlike” conduct, Malacañang said on Tuesday as it described the incident as “unfortunate.” “Let’s just say that we found the whole incident unfortunate. It was of course the height of being unsportsmanlike,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing. ADVERTISEMENT “It’s something that we have to be sorry about because it should never have happened. But all we are saying is, we sympathize somehow with the feelings of our fellow Filipinos, which is not to justify their conduct,” Roque added. The game was stopped at the third quarter when a brawl erupted after Australia big man Daniel Kickert took out Gilas Pilipinas swingman Roger Pogoy with a shove. READ: Brawl breaks out in Gilas-Australia game “What should have happened is as soon as Mr. Kickert did that foul, foul elbow, then the game should have stopped,” Roque said. “There should have been a decision declaring him to have committed a foul act and there should have been a foul shot instead. But it continued I don’t know why it was allowed to continue,” he added. The Palace official said the incident was regretful. “We do not justify the conduct of our Filipino players. All we’re saying is it was a regretful incident and it should not happen,” he said. “And in the 52 years I have spent in this existence, that’s the worst I have seen,” he added. While Roque said Malacanang understood the emotions of the Gilas players, their conduct was never justified. “Well, It should never have happened that’s why it’s called sports. But at the same time, we’re saying we empathize that they have to act as a team, which will not justify their conduct,” he said. “ I think we would have to say it was truly a regretful incident.” /vvp Read Next<doc-sep>Match results: Australia’s crucial clash at the top of Group B against the Philippines was abandoned with one minute to play in the third quarter, following a massive brawl between the two sides. While Australia had dominated the game and walk away with the win, it won’t be the result which is remembered in the fallout. Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Reddit Email Share Launched by a foul on Chris Goulding, Daniel Kickert threw an elbow into one of the host nation’s players and it errupted, with the bench clearing and an all-in brawl following. In one of the most baffling incidents ever seen on a basketball court, the referees would take 35 minutes to reach a verdict, with 13 players ejected in total – nine of them from the Philippines. The game restarted with a five versus three situation, before the hosts quickly fouled themselves out to end the game with 11 minutes still to play. Final score Philippines – 53 Australia – 89 Match preview: 55,000 fans are expected to descend upon the Philippine Arena to watch the Philippines and Australia square off for a chance to top Group B in the first round of Basketball World Cup qualification. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 9:30pm (AEST). While there is no pressure on this game in terms of qualifying for the second round of qualification, picking up the points for a win is still incredibly important. Advertisement Advertisement All results earned in the first round are carried over to the second round of qualification, where no team will want to be starting from a backmarker, given only three of six teams in each second round group will move into the World Cup out of the Asian zone. As it stands, Australia were on a roll, having won their first four games. After beating Chinese Taipei on the road, they then got the better of all three teams – with Japan the other – in their group at home. This was always going to be the hardest window of matches for the Boomers though, with trips away to Japan and the Philippines just a few days apart. That’s exactly what it proved to be during the first of those matches on Friday night as well. Instead of coming away with their fifth win in a row (and 16th in a row in total matches including the FIBA Asia Cup and friendlies), the Boomers were stunned by Japan. Simply put, Australia were outplayed. Andrej Lemanis didn’t adjust his teams tactics to the Japanese onslaught, who had to win to stay in the hunt for a second-round berth. While the final margin was only a point, this has the potential to be more, with the Philippines a better side and backed by a larger, more vocal crowd. Andray Blatche will be the key man for the Philippines, with the big centre causing problems for the Boomers in their last game played at the Margaret Court Arena. The Philippines have also only lost one game in their qualification run (to Australia), after getting the better of Chinese Taipei away from home on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement The solid 22-point victory came on the back of 12 rebounds and 13 points, but he was backed up strongly by Jayson Castro and June Fajardo, who both had big games. Prediction The Boomers shouldn’t lose two straight, but this is going to be easier said than done. Australia by 2. Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this all-important FIBA World Cup qualifier from 9:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment below.<doc-sep>Basketball Australia said it "deeply regrets" its national team's participation in a brawl against the Philippines in a FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifying match on Monday at Philippine Arena. “We are extremely disappointed with what happened and our role in it," it said in a statement. “This is not the spirit in which sport should be played and certainly not in the spirit in which we aim to play basketball. We apologise to our fans and will await the penalties to be handed down.” Nine Gilas Pilipinas players and four Boomers were thrown out of the game after the third quarter bench-clearing brawl. The melee began at the 4:01 mark of the third quarter with Australia, 79-48, in control when Gilas Pilipinas guard Roger Pogoy and Boomers wingman Chris Goulding got tangled up on a drive. Australia big man Daniel Kickert responded with a forearm on Pogoy, after which Jayson Castro hit Kickert. All hell broke loose after that, with both teams getting in on the action. Nine Gilas players were ejected along with four Boomers. World basketball governing body FIBA has opened disciplinary proceedings against the two squads. —JST, GMA News<doc-sep>
A bench-clearing brawl broke out on Monday during the FIBA Basketball World Cup matchup between the Philippines and Australia at Philippine Arena. The melee happened at the 4:01 mark of the third quarter with Australia, 79-48, in control when Gilas Pilipinas guard Roger Pogoy and Boomers wingman Chris Goulding got tangled up on a drive. Australia big man Daniel Kickert responded with a forearm on Pogoy, after which Jayson Castro hit Kickert. All hell broke loose after that, with both teams getting in on the action. JUST IN: Fight breaks out in the third quarter of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers between Gilas and Australia. pic.twitter.com/92aib5jdLS — Mav Gonzales (@mavgonzales) July 2, 2018 Players from both sides traded blows, with Milwaukee Bucks big man Thon Maker even trying a flying kick on Terrence Romeo. Officials finally got all players under control. While referees were reviewing video of the incident, former Gilas forward Marc Pingris walked over the Philippine side to try to calm down the home team, even whipping out his cellphone to take a selfie. This just happened. After one of the wildest on-court brawls in recent memory, the Philippines team pauses to pose for a selfie, like there’s something to celebrate pic.twitter.com/fTXAaBA5lp — Mitchell Scott (@WhippingBoySEN) July 2, 2018 After a lengthy delay, the referees were escorted out of the court to the production vans outside the arena to continue their review of the incident. Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio took the microphone to request the crowd to settle down as the referees continued the review. The referee returned to the court some 40 minutes after the brawl started and announced the ejection of nine Gilas players and four Australian players. Ejected for Gilas were: Terrence Romeo Carl Bryan Cruz Jayson Castro Calvin Abueva Andray Blatche Roger Pogoy Troy Rosario Japeth Aguilar Matthew Wright Goulding, Maker, Kickert, and Nathan Sobey were ejected for Australia. Only three players — June Mar Fajardo, Gabe Norwood, and Baser Amer — remained available to finish the game. Fajardo and Norwood committed intentional fouls to get disqualified, forcing the referees to award the game to Australia, 89-53, at the 1:57 mark of the third period. —JST, GMA News