Reyes ­pinaderan ang Gilas

PINAGTANGGOL ni national coach Chot Reyes ang kaniyang mga Gilas Pilipinas player sa nangyaring rambulan sa pagitan ng Australia sa window 3 ng 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Lunes ng gabi sa Philippine Arena sa Bocaue.

Apat na minuto pa ang natitira sa third quarter, nag-riot ang Filipinos at Australians habang milya na ang agwat ng mga dayo, 79-48.

“It’s unfortunate, we didn’t want that to happen. It’s absolutely unacceptable,” ani Reyes. “But the reality is, (Daniel) Kickert was hitting our players du­ring the warm-ups. He hit Carl Bryan Cruz, he hit Matthew Wright, he hit (Roger) Pogoy, and he hit Calvin Abueva.”
May lumalagpas daw na mga Gilas player sa center line pa­punta sa side ng Australians, at tinutulak sila ni Kickert.

Pinigil na raw ng coaching staff ang ibang player na naiinis, pinagsabihan na huwag nang pansinin ang Australian at mag-focus sa laro. Pero nang inulit sa third, hindi na naawat ang Gilas.

Bago nagkagulo, si­nagasaan ni Pogoy si Chris Goulding at natawagan ng offensive ang Gilas guard. Lumapit si Ki­ckert, binigwasan ng siko sa mukha si Pogoy at naglabo-labo na. Pati mga Gilas player na nasa bench, sumugod.

“It was a basketball play but he (Kickert) was the one who came in and decked Pogoy for the fifth time. You can’t expect to do that to a team for five times and not expect to retaliate,” dagdag ni Reyes.