The game between De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and Jose Rizal University reached an unfortunate end due to an incident involving Heavy Bomber John Amores with 3:22 left in the game with JRU down, 71-51.
Amores charged towards the Benilde bench and threw punches at several Benilde players including Taine Davis, Jimboy Pasturan, and Migs Oczon.
But Benilde head coach Charles Tiu was proud to see most of his players show restraint during the incident, which resulted in the Management Committee ultimately stopping the game.
"It's an unfortunate situation but I can say I'm in a way proud that for the most part, our guys held it together and didn't fight back because to us, we're just trying to play basketball and our goal is to win a championship," a calm and composed Tiu said.
"We're not out there to start fights or hurt people."
Tiu stressed their focus remained on winning, especially after they improved to 10-3 and fortified their hold of the second spot.
The mentor also reminded of Amores' history, recalling his punching incident during JRU's game against University of the Philippines in the PG Flex Linoleum-UCBL Preseason Tournament last July 26.
"It happens, it's happened in the past. Obviously, the person involved has been in the same situation before, that he punched a UP player in the preseason," Tiu added.
"It happens sometimes in basketball, it's physical, but I don't think there's any need to charge across the bench if he was being heckled by somebody," he said.
"When we play basketball, we get screamed at by fans all game long, a lot of schools are hearing worse things, but you just have to be above it and play."
GMA Integrated News reached out to the Jose Rizal University team for comment but has yet to receive a response as of posting time.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
