Gilas Pilipinas head coach Vincent "Chot" Reyes wants to move on from the fight that broke out during the Philippines' game against Australia in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Monday at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Reyes apologized anew for the national team's involvement in the brawl in a post on his personal Instagram account on Wednesday.
"The past few days have been extremely difficult for us at GILAS. Each player & coach who got involved in the incident has apologized, and as Head Coach, so have I. Again, to those we have offended, we are sorry," he said.
The national team coach then proceeded to thank people who continued to show him and Gilas support despite what happened.
"To those who have stood by us, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts," he went on. "Our prayer is that we come out better and stronger from this as we affirm that it is our honor to fight for our country til we can't fight anymore, with all our hearts.
The Instagram post comes on the heels of his interview on a special episode of SportsCenter Philippines on Thursday where he and Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio discussed the brawl. Reyes is also President and CEO of TV5 Network and Media5.
Reyes had earlier said that he takes full responsibility for the involvement of his team in the unfortunate incident.
"As the head coach, I take accountability and responsibility for the actions of the team both on the court and off the court. We apologize to the Filipino fans for that incident happening. Again, you have to be there and you have to be part of Gilas to really understand what happened. We tried to pacify and restrain the players as much as we can. But when you see your brother getting hit it's very hard not to go and defend him. They provoked us during the warm-ups and during a dead ball situation," Reyes said in the interview.
Apart from Reyes, Gilas players, at a team dinner on Thursday, also gave their take on the whole issue and apologized. Reyes encouraged the players to each say their peace and "put it behind you and focus on the future."
FIBA is expected to come out with a ruling in the coming days.