Naga-Minglanilla fiasco to strengthen Gov’s Cup
5-minute replay of game ordered; refs, table officials banned
Cebu Provincial Sports Commission (CPSC) Executive Director Atty. Ramil P. Abing said the shroud of
controversy that wrapped the NagaMinglanilla match in the 2nd Cebu Governor's
Cup Inter-Cities and Municipalities Under-21
Developmental Basketball Tournament was a lesson learned for the organizers and that it will only strengthen their resolve in bringing the fledgling league to
greater heights.
Last Monday night at the Enan Chiong Activity Center in the City of Naga, the Minglanilla Archangels opened their title defense with a stunning 93-91 overtime loss to the Naga City Electrifiers.
Minglanilla was up by a hairline, 91-90, when Nag's Justin Atilano sank a booming triple with seventenths of a second left in extra time. The regulation period ended at 75-all.
The game, however, was immediately put under protest by Minglanilla. The aggrieved party argued that the 3-point shot should not be counted as Naga committed a violation for having six players inside the court during that crucial sequence of play.
The Gov's Cup technical committee headed by commissioner Danny Duran gamely admitted that the incident was unprecedented in the annals of Cebu basketball.
"The incident was unprecedented. To the best recollection, there was no case yet in Cebu of similar factual circumstances and there is no provision in the Governor's Cup Rules and Guidelines covering the incident. The Governor's Cup ground rules provides that, The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Rules shall govern the conduct of the Cebu Governor's Cup Basketball Tournament and the Governor's Cup Ground Rules as adopted by the technical committee. Any unforeseen incident or situation not covered by these rules shall be dealt with by the Technical Committee,"said the committee in its three-page decision.
Invoking such rule and the interest of equity and fair play, the Technical Committee decided that a five-minute replay shall be done to determine the rightful winner of the game at the soonest possible time. The committee shall set the date and all conditions prevailing after the end of the regulation period shall be observed in the conduct of the replay.
Had the referees and the table officials were eagle-eyed enough to spot Naga's infraction, the host would have been slapped with a technical foul and subsequently award a bonus throw to Minglanilla, as per league rules.
But in its decision, the technical committee contended that the practice of assessing technical foul to the team who commited a violation of fielding in more than 5 players in the court and the awarding therein a free throw to the offended team cannot just be applied in this case because the time has already expired, thus, the award of ball possession to Minglanilla cannot be done.
On the other end, the committee cannot also sustain the decision of the referees to count the basket considering that their failure to hold the play before ensuring that there are correct number of players in the court at those very critical time of the game. It further stated that to award the game to Naga despite the obvious violation will create grave injustice and unfairness to Minglanilla.
For being remiss in their duties, all the referees and table officials involved in the game were indefinitely suspended from officiating the succeeding Governor's Cup games and at the same time banned from doing so in the South division.
Now that matter has already been resolved, Abing has adviced all the concerned parties to move on adding that on their part they gained a wealth of experience out of what had happened unfortunate as it may seem.
"I hope they will move on from the mistakes of the referees," said Abing. "I sincerely hope, in the spirit of sportsmanship and greater interest of the league, both parties will heed and understand the decision of the committee. The incident is a lesson learned for all the officials and should strengthen the Governor's Cup."