By Jerome Lagunzad
Games Tuesday
(The Arena, San Juan City)
12 noon. – San Sebastian vs Letran (Jrs)
2 p.m. – San Sebastian vs Letran (Srs)
4 p.m. – Lyceum vs EAC (Srs)
6 p.m. – Lyceum vs EAC (Jrs)
Let the players, and not the referees, decide the game.
Emilio Aguinaldo College coach Ariel Sison cried foul following the team’s 84-79 loss to the Arellano Chiefs last Friday which he partly blamed to spotty officiating in the 93rd NCAA seniors basketball tournament.
Sison didn’t hold back his emotions after he felt EAC found itself on the short end of calls, notably in the crucial stages that turned the game around and led to its second straight setback ahead of its killer stretch next week.
“I felt that it was not fair. The referees decided the game. It should be the players,” said a visibly fuming Sison after emerging from the Generals’ dugout at The Arena in San Juan City.
Down by just one with 1:32 left to play, EAC star Sidney Onwubere was slapped with a technical foul for arguing about a non-call against Arellano counterpart Lervin Flores who apparently took an extra step during his inside incursion and should be called for a traveling violation.
Guard Kent Salado missed the free throw off Onwubere’s technical foul, but Flores, who was fouled during the controversial sequence, sank his freebies and the Chiefs retained the possession.
In the ensuing play, gunslinger Zach Nicholls baited Generals forward Jerome Garcia on a pump-fake and fished for a foul from the three-point area, leading to three more free throws. Nicholls only made one but Arellano pushed its lead back to four, time down to just 1:18.
