ROGER Pogoy admitted blowing his top as he shed light on the ugly events that led to the Philippines-Australia brawl in the 2019 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers.
“Tao lang din tayo. Napuno din ako,” he said, addressing the media for the first time on Tuesday during a Chooks-to-Go-hosted dinner a day after playing a central role in one of the worst melees in Philippine basketball history.
Pogoy’s offensive foul on Chris Goulding led to Daniel Kickert decking the TNT sniper with an elbow, triggering the free-for-all that led to the ejection of 13 players including nine from the side of the home team.
“Binangga ko rin (si Goulding), pero hindi naman sobrang ano nung sa akin. Pang-basketball pa rin naman (yung foul), hindi yung pang-UFC na kagaya nung ginawa (ni Kickert) sa akin. Pang-UFC na yun eh,” he said.
Though Pogoy didn’t deny that frustration got the better of him, he said that Goulding continued to taunt Gilas Pilipinas even after the Boomers were leading by 30 points at that time, which led to him losing his cool.
“Trash talk siya ng trash talk. Sinabihan ko na nga siya na, ‘You don’t need to trash talk cause you’re up by 30 points.’ Hindi na nila kailangan eh,” he said.
Pogoy said he wants to put this horrific chapter behind and move on as he extended his sincerest apologies to everyone.
“Humihingi muna kami ng sorry sa lahat ng fans ng Gilas at sa fans din ng Australia. May mga nangyari na di namin inaasahan. Sana matuto kami dito at hindi na maulit,” he said.
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