The PBA has decided to suspend a referee for missing a crucial call in Friday’s Commissioner’s Cup match between Meralco and Bay Area.
Umpire Jerry Narandan will suffer the consequence of his failure to call an eight-second violation on the Bolts late in the match that the latter won, 92-89, to collect only their second victory in the mid-season conference.
The erring ref will be out for one rotation, meaning that he won’t report for three to five games as recommended by league deputy commissioner Eric Castro.
“We missed that,” said the exec shortly after the game at the SMART Araneta Coliseum. “Crucial … kaya ang recommendation ko, masu-suspend.”
Meralco clearly committed a violation when it failed to get the ball across. Raymond Almazan collared Glen Yang’s missed three-pointer with about 20.9 seconds to go, but the rock only bounced to the other side with 9.4 ticks left.
That’s because the Bolts struggled to get it through. Allein Maliksi, after regaining the ball he himself lost hold of, got trapped by two defenders before passing it to Aaron Black, who then threw it to Bong Quinto on the other end.
That, naturally, left Dragons head coach Brian Goorjian furious over what happened as his side was trailing by just three at that time.
The door, though, was still left open for the guest team when Maliksi failed to convert his free throws with 3.5 seconds left, but couldn’t pounce on the chance as Kobey Lam missed the potential game-tying trey as time expired.
Bay Area suffered its second loss of the conference and dropped to second in the standings with a 6-2 record, allowing Magnolia to go back on top (5-1).
The defeat also wasted the efforts of Andrew Nicholson, who had 50 points and 12 rebounds in his fourth game with the Dragons — a performance that could be key in the club’s decision to choose its import for the rest of the tilt.
The Hong Kong-based franchise will now have to select between the 6-foot-8 forward and another ex-NBA cager in Myles Powell, who played in their first four matches that saw them win all those to gain early leadership.
