By MARK REY MONTEJO
Another brawl, another sad story for Philippine basketball.
Mapua University and China’s Ningbo University got into a bench-clearing fight in their Finals matchup in the 13th Asian University Basketball Championship at TUP Manila Monday, July 7
With less than six minutes left in the third quarter and the Cardinals leading 64-57, a fistfight broke out after a rebound battle off a Cyril Gonzales miss.
A battle for the loose ball between Andrei Igliane and Ningbo’s player No. 27 triggered the altercation which immediately escalated into a huge brawl after a Chinese player kicked one member of the Cardinal.
All hell broke loose from that point as securities and officials struggled to contain the commotion.
The game officials ultimately decided to suspend the gold medal match of the tournament organized by the Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines, in partnership with the Asian University Basketball Federation and the Basketball Association of the Philippines.
The league and the teams have yet to release a statement regarding the incident.
Mapua, which will represent the country in the 2025 FISU Summer World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, is unblemished so far in the week-long tournament.
Six teams participated in the event, namely, Ningbo University, De La Salle University–Dasmariñas, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Mapúa, Philippine Normal University and host TUP.
