By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Despite all the anger towards Jose Rizal University (JRU) veteran John Amores who went berserk inside the playing court resulting in two College of Saint Benilde (CSB) players being knocked down, a silent professional hoops player surprisingly has taken his side.
Lester Prosper, a current Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) import for the Terrafirma Dyip, called for unity and invited Amores for a dinner in his recent Facebook post.
“John you should come have dinner with me hit me up king. Let’s talk! Me and you. Someone please deliver this message to him, I got some advice for you king to help save your career and what you can do to be better moving forward,” Prosper posted on his official Facebook account hours after the JRU-CSB melee went viral.
After facing complaints four months ago when he punched UP recruit Mark Gil Belmonte in a preseason game, Amores failed to contain himself and went berserk during JRU’s NCAA game against the College of Saint Benilde (CSB).
Amores felt he got tripped after going down at the 3:25 mark of the final canto and suddenly exploded in anger. The JRU veteran then charged CSB’s bench which resulted in two players getting knocked down after Amores’ wild punches.
Mark Sangco, CSB’s player whom he had an altercation with earlier, was the primary target once he got past the official’s table.
Amores wasn’t done with his rampage and later on landed solid punches to CSB’s Jimboy Pasturan and Taine Davis. The NCAA security was finally able to restrain Amores and led him to the dugout that dispersed the tension.
While most basketball fanatics and professional players expressed anger towards Amores’ actions, Prosper ended his Facebook post with: “We don’t give up on each other, #unity.”
Prosper previously said that he got lots of love playing in the Philippines, citing it as the reason why he is back with the Terrafirma franchise.
Prosper had a stellar debut in the PBA several years ago that helped him become Indonesia’s naturalized big man on the world stage.
Prosper once wore the Indonesian national team jersey during a FIBA window held in the Philippines but lost at the hands of Tab Baldwin and the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team.
