In the game's third quarter, small forward Christopher Lenk committed a foul on a Haljala player and received a technical foul for protesting that call.

Pahv wrote on his social media account Sunday that: "Saturday's II league match with Haljala was very important for our club, and, as a result, tensions rose both on the court and on the bench. I can't deny that there was a conflict situation between me and the player, Christopher Lenk."

"I also publicly apologize to Christopher and his family that such a situation arose at all and that their name was plastered in the media in this way," Pahv continued.

Pahv added that: "No, I didn't attack anyone. I did try to calm the player's emotions. Yes, there was contact with the player, but it wasn't a strike, as it might have seemed from a distance and as the sensation-hungry media tried to portray it – it was concurrent movement that resulted in contact. After the game, we talked about the situation with the player and everything was resolved. Today [Sunday], we had already trained with the whole team for Monday's quarterfinal against TalTech."

The Estonian media reported that the coach struck the player in the stomach area, prompting Lenk to leave the court for the locker room, and not return for the rest of the match.

Lenk, 20, later downplayed the incident, writing on his social media account that: "This talk about a 'physical assault' is a real exaggeration."

"Peep had tried to calm me down and pull me back after an incident on the court, and I was moving forward at the same time and so his hand hit my stomach. From the wrong angle it might have looked like something more than that, but there was no punching or intentional physical aggression – just bad timing, in an emotional moment," Lenk continued.

Haljala won the match, 74:64.

Head coach of basketball Keila Coolbet, Peep Pahv, has issued a public apology following an apparent physical altercation with one of his players during Saturday's Saku II league second-leg semifinal at Haljala NGU.

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