Meralco wingman Allein Maliksi was meted with a one-game suspension and a P75,000 fine following his altercation with Converge big man Barkley Eboña, who on the other hand was fined P5,000.
The two got into a scuffle late in the Bolts’ 132-129 win over the FiberXers with Eboña hitting Maliksi with a hard foul to which the veteran gunner retaliated by confronting Eboña and grabbing him by the neck.
Maliksi was ejected with a flagrant foul penalty 2 while Eboña was asserted with a flagrant foul penalty 1.
The sanctions were handed after both were summoned by deputy commissioner Eric Castro on Saturday, March 4. The Bolts forward will serve his suspension on their Sunday’s game against the Phoenix Fuel Masters.
Maliksi and Meralco had already issued separate statements apologizing for the veteran cager’s actions
Converge, on the other hand, through a statement, denounced the incident which it described as ‘an assault on one of their players’. The FiberXers camp said that the actual videos of the incident ‘clearly showed that Maliksi strangled Eboña’.
“Medico-legal findings after the incident revealed that Eboña sustained "soft tissue injury secondary to mauling,” said Converge.
It also expressed concern over the incident in which one of their players was ‘put in danger by another player. It also slammed the statements made by Maliksi, saying that Eboña deliberately hurt him and Meralco import KJ McDaniels during the game, stressing that the FiberXers have always played fair and displayed sportsmanship.
“We are deeply concerned that such an incident happened yesterday where one of our players was put in danger by another player. We also take exception to the statements that the Converge team had an intention to harm other players in the court. Our previous games, whether win or lose, will show that our players have always played fair and displayed honorable sportsmanship,” it added.