NCAA coaches weighed in on the brawl that ensued in the Gilas Pilipinas-Australia match in the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers on Monday at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
It was a repugnant incident which resulted in 13 ejections and shocked the basketball community.
Naturally, Lyceum coach Topex Robinson condemned the fracas and described it as "not beautiful."
Robinson didn't exactly defend the players' actions in the third period of what was turning out to be a one-sided affair. But as a "brother's keeper" in a heated match, Robinson said he would have done the same.
"Obviously, it's not what we expected, it's not beautiful, but at the end of the day, you're grown men, you make decisions and you have to be responsible for every decision that you make," said Robinson before the NCAA Season 94 press conference at the Mall of Asia Arena on Tuesday.
"If I was there also, maybe I would have done the same. I'm always my brother's keeper."
San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez shared a similar sentiment. Fernandez said fights like that have no place in sports but insisted it's hard to keep emotions in check especially in a highly-physical match like that.
"Of course I'm sad it happened. It's not supposed to happen. Then again it's hard to control your emotions," Fernandez said in Filipino.
Benilde coach TY Tang, meanwhile, said the game officials could have done something to prevent a heated match from escalating into an ugly melee.
"I would say if the refs were able to control the game early on, that might not have happened. I don't think there's a lot of people who can really control what happened," he said.
"I understand our team for sticking out for each other. I would say, if we were abroad and that happened, there's nobody else to look for ourselves but us."
The former Rain or Shine point guard then came to the defense of the Gilas players, saying a lot had happened leading up to the match including the Australia officials' removing the decals during their closed-door practice.
Only four-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, Gabe Norwood, and Baser Amer were left to play the remainder of the game. Officials called it after Fajardo and Norwood fouled out and Australia went on to win by default.
Fernandez was glad Amer, his former star guard at San Beda, refused to join the fray.
"First of all, I'm really happy for him because at least he's still the same kind player who doesn't get involved in fights like that," Fernandez said in Filipino.
"Ever since I handled him, he really exhibits an admirable attitude. I'm proud of him."