Baby Falcons’ 11 won games are forfeited
The UAAP board yesterday punished the Adamson Baby Falcons for fielding an ineligible player and forfeited all of their 11 won games in the ongoing juniors basketball tournament.
Adamson's star player Florencio “Encho” Serrano, a candidate for the league's Most Valuable Player award and the team's leading scorer with nearly 19 points per game, was declared ineligible because of incomplete requirements.
With his prodiguous performance, Adamson would have made it to the Final Four as he led the team to 11 victories in its first 12 games. All of the 11 victories, however, have now been forfeited and Adamson dropped to the cellar with a 0-12 record prior to beating University of Santo Tomas in Serrano's absence yesterday at The Arena in San Juan.
University of the East's Rod Roque, chairman of the league's eligibility committee, said in a letter dated last Tuesday that Serrano failed to submit a secondary student's permanent records to indicate his academic records.
Roque made no further details about what the problem was but sources said the decision stemmed from Adamson's failure to disclose Serrano's first two years at St. Vincent's in Pampanga prior to transferring to Malayan High School of Science (Mapua).
Serrano failed to suit up for the Red Robins in the NCAA before moving to the Baby Falcons where the school submitted to the league the academic records which came from Malayan.
“Whatever records came from Mapua, yun ang sinubmit namin sa UAAP,” said an Adamson source who asked not to be named, adding that the school plans to immediately appeal the decision.
“Basically di naman maaapektuhan yung eligibility niya kung nabanggit man o hindi yung two years niya sa St. Vincent. Hindi naman material yun para sabihing dinaya, yung program naman namin di magreresort sa ganun para manalo.”