Beau Belga is not to be bullied right on his own turf.
The 6-foot-5 Rain or Shine center was in no way backing down even against taller and heftier imports of the other teams although he admitted that his response to San Miguel Beer import Diamond Stone might have come too costly for his team.
The wide-bodied Belga hit the showers with still under five minutes left in the contest after being assessed with a flagrant foul penalty 2 and figuring in a verbal altercation with the SMB import before cooler heads prevailed.
Stone was also slapped with a technical foul for trash talking while coach Yeng Guiao and Chris Ross were likewise meted with the same call for their own verbal exchange.
“Tina-trash talk niya ako eh siyempre the pride of being a local 'di ako papayag na gaganun ganunin ako ng isang dayuhan so I just said something na 'di maganda,” said Belga after the game.
“And yun pinaalala sa akin ni coach Yeng na you can't do that dahil mas lalo kang di makakatulong sa team, magsu-suffer yung team mo and with the close game kailangan yung tulong sa team so learning lessons for us losing this game,” he added.
Indeed, Belga’s ejection left a gaping hole inside the paint for Rain or Shine as Steve Taylor couldn’t hold the fort on his own especially against Stone and June Mar Fajardo.
During that stretch, the Beermen pulled away for good with Fajardo and Stone pouncing on the ROS depleted interior defense and combined for 18 of SMB’s 28 points.
Stone refused to comment about the incident, saying that it was just all part of basketball and both teams wanting to take the win.
“For me it's just basketball, he knows it's basketball, a lot of tension in the game both teams want to win, not ready to discuss that it's just playing basketball,” said Stone.