LEADING by a mile 71-51 with 3:22 left in the fourth quarter, College of St. Benilde was in the process of wrapping up its 10th win of the season at the expense of Jose Rizal University yesterday in the 98th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Until an ugly fracas took place.
Heavy Bombers’ forward John Amores charged the Blazers’ bench and threw punches at everyone he crossed paths with, including Mark Sangco, Jimboy Pasturan, and Taine Davis. Amores, who had an earlier altercation on the court with Sangco, also hit Migs Oczon.
Not even JRU Management Committee representative Paul Supan could halt Amores from going berserk.
Amores was holed up inside the team’s dugout before league officials decided to stop the match that was ruled as a won game for the Blazers.
“The primary consideration is the safety of the players, the coaches, the audience, and all the people here inside the Filoil Arena,” Letran ManComm member Fr. Vic Calvo said.
“We consulted both teams and they chose the higher grounds. We have to commend them for their sportsmanship. Although may nangyaring ganito, we’re still one family. We’re still investigating to put a complete picture sa nangyari,” he added.
The country’s oldest collegiate league vowed to probe the incident and lower the boom on Amores, whose display of his combative nature was not the first yesterday.
Amores was slapped an indefinite ban by the UCBL last July after he punched University of the Philippines’ Mark Gil Belmonte in a pre-season tussle.
Pasturan scattered 18 points, while Will Gozum had 15 markers and 10 rebounds for CSB, which atoned for a 66-74 loss to defending two-time champion Letran four days ago and rose to 10-3 for solo second.
The Bombers, coming off a numbing 52-62 defeat to Arellano University last Sunday, fell to 6-7.
The Blazers whipped JRU 92-79 in their first-round tiff last Oct. 26.
Earlier, Emilio Aguinaldo College downed Perpetual Help 59-53 for its second win.
Art Cosa led the Generals with 14 points and eight caroms, while JC Luciano added 12 markers and nine rebounds.
Adrian Balowa also had 10 points for EAC, which snapped a four-game losing streak, counting a sorry 60-61 setback to JRU last Saturday for a 2-13 slate.
The Altas failed to rebound from an 82-86 loss to Lyceum four days ago and absorbed their third defeat in a row for a 5-9 record.
The win also avenged the Generals’ 60-84 defeat to Perpetual when they first met last Sept. 11.
EAC took a 34-26 lead at the half and was still in control 47-39 entering the final 10 minutes.
Joey Barcuma scored 12 points and had three rebounds for the Altas, while Mark Omega got 12 and 11.
