Result of Naga-Minglanilla match in Gov’s Cup basketball put on hold

THE RESULT of last Monday’s game in the Governor’s Cup Inter-Cities/Municipalities Basketball tournament between the defending champions Minglanilla Archangels and hosts Naga City Electrifiers was put on hold following a late-game technical issue.

Naga won that game, 93-91, after Justin Atilano sank a triple with just 0.7 seconds left in overtime.

It could have been a perfect ending to a well-played game except for one glitch: Naga had six players on the court on that final play.

Officials, though, counted the basket and gave Naga the win since they didn’t notice the error until organizers reviewed the tapes after the game held at the Enan Chiong Activity Center.

Minglanilla town Mayor Elanito Peña filed a formal protest to the committee of the Governor’s Cup headed by Cebu Provincial Sports Commission (CPSC) executive director Atty. Ramil P. Abing.

In a phone interview with Cebu Daily News, Abing said that they had a closed-door meeting with the eight commissioners of the league to come up with a solution to this issue.

“We already made a resolution but we will not disclose it first,” Abing said. “We will make necessary announcements tomorrow (today) because I will also meet with the two teams to come up with an agreement.”

Sanctions

Abing added that the league can learn from this incident.

“It is not a problem that does not have a solution. Instead, everyone learned from this mistake and we learned that because of this problem, there is a huge interest in basketball within the Cebuano community because everyone wants to know what will be our verdict,” said Abing.

But Abing did say that they will apply necessary sanctions to discipline the referee in charge of that game. He, however, did not disclose the identity of the referees.

Meanwhile, Talisay City won against Carcar City, 88-82, and the Alcoy Siloys escaped Dalaguete AgriSaurs, 60-64. Sibonga beat Boljoon, 68-67, in another game.

In the north division, the visiting Balamban town edged Bogo City, 79-73, at the Don Celestino Martinez Sr. Sports Complex in Bogo City while Tabogon beat Asturias, 77-64.