THE UAAP technical committee on Thursday upheld the decision of Commissioner Ato Badolato denying University of Santo Tomas’ protest over controversial calls late in a 66-68 loss to Ateneo last Saturday.
In a letter addressed to UST board member Hilda Paz Kamus, the technical committee said that the points raised by the Tigers were "judgement calls" and therefore not subject to protest.
“The technical committee agrees with the Commissioner that the points that you have raised are both judgement calls and not subject to protest,” said technical committee member Junel Baculi in the letter.
“It was pointed out during the course of the discussion that although the calls & non-calls were technical in nature, implementing [them] requires judgement,” the letter added.
The Tigers protested that Ateneo coach Norman Black should have been called with a technical foul with 7.7 seconds left in the game for going across the court to complain to the referees.
Kamus said the school will abide by the decision and won't elevate the case to the board en banc.
“As of now, after noong nabasa namin, we will just respect kung ano ang desisyon ng technical committee,” said Kamus.
UST coach Pido Jarencio also respects the decision but remained disappointed about what transpired in the game.
“We have house rules,” said Jarencio. “Ang sa akin, I’m not against Ateneo. Ang akin, rerespetuhin ba natin o hindi ang rules? Bakit pa tayo gumawa ng house rules kung ang nagbabantay ng batas, may loopholes. Bakit hindi na-implement ‘yung house rules?”
National University's protest over its loss to Far Eastern University last September 2 was upheld by the board on the grounds that video replays of RR Garcia’s marginal layup which the referees used as basis to rule that the shot beat the clock was deemed "inconclusive" by board members.
“In the NU-FEU game, it was a tie and the call was reviewable,” explained La Salle's Henry Atayde, a member of the technical committee. (In this case), this is not a reviewable call. A referee calls a foul but we don’t have rules to review it.”
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