Another fracas nearly erupted on a Saturday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, when the San Miguel Beermen faced the Magnolia Hotshots in the final game of the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup elimination round.
Luckily, cooler heads prevailed.
It all happened with 2:14 left to play and with the Hotshots leading. Renaldo Balkman and Ian Sangalang were seen face to face after a brief physical exchange happened when they were jockeying for position under the ring.
Their collision went on for seconds, until almost all of the players inside the court and the referees separated them to control the situation.
No technical fouls whatsoever were whistled on Balkman and Sangalang.
Many people feared that another free-for-all might ensue. Filipino basketball fans have yet to move on from Monday’s incident where Gilas Pilipinas’ FIBA World Cup Qualifiers match with Australia turned into an ugly brawl.
No beef will take place some time in the near future though, as Balkman approached the Hotshots’ bench after a timeout and went to Sangalang, apparently to downplay the heated incident they just got into earlier.
And Sangalang won’t make it something personal either, as he and the Hotshots walked away with the 101-97 victory.
