JUST minutes after being choked by import Renaldo Balkman, Petron forward Arwind Santos took the initiative to apologize to the Boosters’ hot-headed import inside the dugout after the 73-83 loss to Alaska.
Though horrified by Balkman’s wild conduct that also saw him shove Petron assistant coach Biboy Ravanes and Ronald Tubid, Santos said he said sorry for the sake of team unity.
“Nag-sorry na kami. Una na akong lumapit. Di ko na inisip sino nagkamali. So para sa team. Umawat lang naman ako sa court, pero nainis siya,” said Santos after emerging from the team’s dugout at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
While there are no official statement yet from the team as to how management plans to deal with Balkman’s latest act, Santos hopes that it wouldn’t affect the Boosters’ performance in the conference.
“Hopefully, di makapaketo sa amin ito (incident). Team namin is like a family. Kapag nagkakaproblema, sa loob namin inaayos,” added the 6-4 former FEU King Tamaraw.
Asked if he still trusts Balkman after that incident, he quickly responded by saying, “Oo naman, mas titibay ang samahan ng team.”
Santos, who finished with just four points and seven boards, explained that Balkman’s mood swing was understandable considering his game-long struggle against the defense of Alaska.
“Tayo iba-iba ang mood natin,” he said.
Balkman finished with just six points on 3-of-16 shooting from the field. He did grab 17 rebounds, but he missed several point-blank shots against the defense of Alaska import Robert Dozier and Sonny Thoss.
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