After choking incident, Balkman to stay as Petron import

MANILA, Philippines – In another twist to the latest episode of the Petronovela, the Blaze Boosters intend to keep their volatile import.  

After an emotional outburst that saw him choke his teammate Arwind Santos in a bizarre ending to Petron’s 73-83 loss to Alaska that snapped the Blaze Boosters’ five-game winning streak, former NBA player Renaldo Balkman is staying as Petron import according to San Miguel Corporation sports director Noli Eala.

“Of course, he’ll stay. He gave us five wins. It was just an off night,” Eala told a small group of reporters after emerging from the dugout of Petron Friday night.

Balkman, who was averaging a tournament-best 28.2 points a game, was held down to his personal-worst six points on 3-of-16 shooting by the Alaska defense.  The frustrating night turned to worst in the dying seconds of the lost game when he confronted the referees for a non-call.

Petron assistant coach Biboy Ravanes tried to restrain the former New York Knick and Denver Nugget but was pushed away. His teammates Ronald Tubid and Arwind Santos also tried to pacified the emotional import but both got shoved.  

The lowest point came when Santos also pushed back and the 6-6 import angrily choked him until cooler heads intervened.

Santos’ agent Danny Espiritu recounted the scene in the Petron dugout after the latest on-court episode of the Petronovela.

“Si Coach Olsen [Racela] naabutan kong nagsasalita na while si [Renaldo] Balkman nakatalukbong lang ng tuwalya. Yung mga teammates ni Arwind [Santos] kino-console siya at sinasabing siya na lang ang umintindi,” Espiritu said.

The player-agent also said that he heard Racela telling the team to forget this game and stay together as family.

After about an hour, Balkman was seen emerging from the dugout and went straight to Arwind’s mother and wife, who were waiting in the hallway, to apologize for the incident.

“Nakahanda na ako ng sasabihin ko sa kaniya eh. Kaso hindi na ako nakapagsalita nung lumapit siya. Siyempre tao lang tayo, marunong ding magpatawad,” Arceli Santos, Arwind’s mother, told Philstar.com.

For Arwind, he’d rather want to forget the incident and focus on helping the team win.

“Ako na ang unang lumapit kay Renaldo [Balkman]. Hindi ko na inisip kung sino ang mali sa amin. Basta kami sa Petron, family kami.  Kung anong problema sa court kailangan ayusin namin sa loob,” the reed-thin 6-4 Petron skipper said.  Saka nag-sorry na rin naman siya sa akin. I hope this will make us stronger.”

While the Blaze Boosters have sorted things out, the PBA will not let this bizarre incident go away just like that as league commissioner Chito Salud has already summoned Balkman to appear before him on Monday.