JOHN ANTHONY AMORES added more fuel to his already dismal reputation as today’s bad boy of collegiate basketball when he instigated a melee during Jose Rizal University’s (JRU) National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) game against College of Saint Benilde on Tuesday night.
Thus, the NCAA Management Committee acted swiftly and on Wednesday, indefinitely suspended the JRU forward, meaning he won’t be playing anymore for the remainder of Season 98.
Amores is no saint on the court and he’s attracted hatred—‘amore,’ ironically, means love in Spanish—from fans and non-fans alike. A recidivist, he’s been involved in at last three brawls in his collegiate basketball career.
But to isolate Wednesday’s brawl from Amores’s previous outbursts, BusinessMirror learned that a referee and a fan caused Amores to go on a rampage at the FilOil-EcoOil Centre.
A JRU insider told BusinessMirror that one of the three referees in the game—Dennis Escaros—ignited the fire in Amores. A fan, the same insider said, threw more logs into the fire when he repeatedly cursed at the Heavy Bomber.
“He [Amores] was tripped but the referee [Escaros] whistled Amores a foul instead,” the insider said. “And when Amores was about to react, the referee cursed him, that’s when he tried to bump the referee.”
And when Amores was dragged to the JRU bench, a fan seating behind the Blazers’ bench kept cursing at him, the insider added.
“That was when Amores totally lost his cool and he rushed to the fan, but was met instead by a punch by a Benilde player,” the insider said. That Blazer was Mark Daniel Sangco.
“After that, all hell broke loose,” the insider said.
Amores’s penalty were drawn from seven infractions—intentionally bumping the referee, pointing a finger at the referee, disrespecting NCAA official, JRU’s Paul Supan, disrespecting court officials, charging towards the Saint Benilde bench, making provocation gesture meant to ignite a fight or brawl and throwing punches at four Blazers.
Suspended for one game for entering the court without being recognized by the game officials were Saint Benilde’s Ladis Lepalam Jr. and JRU’s Jason Tan, Joshua Guiab, William Sy Jr., Jason Celis, Marwin Dionisio, Jan Marc Abaoag, Jonathan Medina, Karl De Jesus and Christian Gonzales.
Two-game suspensions—for engaging in a fist fight—were meted on Blazers Sangco and Chris Jay Flores, as well as Heavy Bombers William Sy and Ryan Jay Arenal.
The brawl started with 3:22 left in the fourth quarter and the Blazers ahead, 71-51. The game was called at that point and was awarded to Saint Benilde.
Mancom chairman Estefanio Boquiron Jr. of season host Emilio Aguinaldo College signed the two-page decision and an investigation committee composed of Arellano University’s Peter Cayco, Lyceum of the Philippines University’s Hercules Callanta and Letran’s Fr. Vic Calvo was formed.
“The penalties imposed were in accordance with the NCAA Manual Operations,” a Mancom statement said on Wednesday. “Violence has no place in the NCAA. The Mancom condemns, and will not tolerate, any acts of violence that will endanger our athletes, participants, officials, supporters and the public.”