Bench-clearing brawl breaks out in Gilas game vs. Australia

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