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| Justin Arana quickly shut down his spat with Archie Concepcion during a late timeout. Peter Baltazar |
MANILA—A confrontation with Archie Concepcion late in the game nearly overshadowed the positives from Justin Arana's career game on Friday night.
During a Converge timeout after Macau tried to pull off a late comeback from a huge deficit, Arana and Concepcion were seen hurling harsh words at each other before cooler heads pacified the two.
Even after the FiberXers secured the win at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, head coach Delta Pineda was still not pleased with what happened during the said timeout, so he confronted Arana before the two entered the media room for the post-game press conference.
Now composed again, Arana shared his side of the story with reporters, adding that the spat, which stemmed from a rebounding miscommunication, was just part of the game.
"Nagkasagutan, pero wala naman. Hindi naman big deal yun. Team pa rin naman kami. So, after noon, wala namang nangyari doon," Arana said.
After the presser, though, Pineda still mediated between Arana and Concepcion before both former Arellano stars patched things up.
However, even Pineda downplayed the spat and its eventual end, saying he just did his job as Converge's on-court father figure.
"Part lang ng isang pamilya 'yan. That's not a big deal," the concurrent Pampanga vice governor said.
Concepcion declined to comment regarding the spat, but he assured reporters that he and Arana are OK now.
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