Australia crushed the Philippines, 89-53 at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan to top Group B at the close of the first round of the Asian Qualifiers.
According to FIBA, Chris Goulding scored 20 points on the back of four three-pointers to lead the Boomers of Australia to their fifth win in six Asian Qualifiers game. Daniel Kickert tossed 12 points for Australia, who were coming off a stunning loss to Japan in a previous game.
Andray Blatche and June Mar Fajardo led the effort for the Philippines, scoring 12 and 10 points respectively. The loss of the Philippines put the team in second place with a 4-2 win-loss card with Australia topping the Asian qualifiers.
FIBA said the game was paused in the third quarter following an incident involving several players from both teams that needed additional review from the game officials.
“After review, four players from Australia and nine players from Philippines were sent off the playing area,” FIBA reported. “Play continued until the Philippines were left with only one player on the court.”
As a result, the Philippines lost the game by default according to Article 21 of the Official Basketball Rules. The game score shall stand as at the time the game stopped (53-89) because Australia was ahead in the score. Per the same rule, Australia will receive 2 points in the classification and the Philippines will still receive 1 point (as is the case when a team loses a game).
Following that particular incident, FIBA will now open disciplinary proceedings against both teams. The decision will be communicated in the coming days.
Despite the ugly fight, Australia and Philippines will be in Group F of the Second Round of the Asian Qualifiers, which will begin in September.
According to FIBA, at the end of the second round of the qualifiers, the three best placed teams from each group and the best fourth placed team shall qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019
The heads of the FIBA-affiliated basketball associations in the Philippines and Australia issued a joint statement apologizing for the brawl.
“We deeply regret the events that took place during the game,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, president of the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP), and Ned Colen, president of Basketball Australia.
“We wish to apologize to the entire basketball community worldwide—and in particular to our fantastic fans in the Philippines and Australia—for our behavior displayed by both teams and for bringing the game of basketball into disrepute,” they said.
“We fully accept our responsibility and are collaborating in the ongoing proceedings to investigate the incidents,” they added. “We will do everything in our power to prevent this from happening again.”
“Basketball has a unique power to unite and we look forward to continuing to brining our people together in the true spirit of friendship and sportsmanship in future games,” they concluded.
According to FIBA, at the end of the second round of the qualifiers, the three best placed teams from each group and the best fourth placed team shall qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019
Fil V. Elefante with FIBA report
