No ill will between Gomez de Liano, Lalata after Chooks-to-Go 3x3 injury incident
MANILA, Philippines – All is well between Nueva Ecija's Juan Gomez de Liano and Bacolod's Chris Lalata.
This after the two young guns met Thursday night to clear the air following an incident that transpired in the first leg of the 2020 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 President's Cup.
LOOK: Nueva Ecija's Juan Gomez de Liano and Bacolod's Chris Lalata made amends following an incident on Wednesday that resulted in an injury to Gomez de Liano in the first leg of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 President's Cup | @StarSportsHub @PhilstarNews pic.twitter.com/ns1EEKaSVY
— Luisa Morales (@mluisamorales_) October 23, 2020
Gomez de Liano on Wednesday fell to injury in the game between the Rice Vanguards and the Master Sardines when he landed on Lalata's foot off of a made layup with 5:15 left in the match.
The injury forced the University of the Philippines guard to sit out the rest of the first leg, and the whole of the second leg after it was ruled as an ankle sprain.
Lalata expressed his apologies to Gomez de Liano, with league commissioner Eric Altamirano also present in their meeting.
"Hindi ko intensyon na saktan yung kalaban. Hindi ko intensyon na manggulang. Nag-sorry talaga ako sa kanya," Lalata said.
Gomez de Liano accepted Lalata's apology in stride and did not doubt his intentions.
"I know Chris. He's a nice guy. We were teammates in the D-League. I just want to understand why he needed to box out when the play ended already," Gomez de Liano said.
For Altamirano's part, he believed that Lalata did intrude on the landing spot of Gomez de Liano and gave the former a warning to avoid a repeat of what happened.
"Naiintindihan kong wala kang intention. Ang na-violate mo siguro is yung landing spot ni Juan," Altamirano said.
The commissioner told Lalata that this would be his final warning and a similar incident would result in disciplinary action.
The two players reportedly bumped fists as sign of amicably settling the matter.
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