Loyzaga clears La Salle re: ballpen incident.

This appears in abs-cbnnews.com

Loyzaga clears La Salle re: ballpen incident.

by rick olivares

When La Salle played UST in their season opener last Sunday, June 30, the Growling Tigers were ahead by two points, 51-49, when the Green Archers got the ball back.

In the middle of the play, a referee stopped the match after he spotted a ballpen on the court causing UST head coach Pido Jarencio to protest the “stoppage”. La Salle took advantage of the stoppage to call for time and map out a play where Jason Perkins hit a long jumper to send the match into a five-minute extension (UST won the match 63-58).

The UAAP Commissioner Chito Loyzaga reviewed the tape of the match to find out if the pen landing on the court was intentional or unintentional.

According to Loyzaga, in that offensive by La Salle, the video showed that the coaches were issuing instructions to the players including assistant Allan Caidic.

Caidic motioned to send the ball out to the perimeter when the pen flew from his hands to the floor. He tried to catch it but missed. Almost immediately, one of the ballboys positioned himself near the sideline to try and retrieve it if there was a deadball situation. But the referee saw it and called time.

“It was inadvertent,” said Loyzaga who wrote the UAAP board about his findings and to clear La Salle that had taken some criticism over social media immediately after that incident. “And there was no malice intended.”

The commissioner also took the time to explain to Jarencio his office’s findings and the UST coach accepted it. Loyzaga likewise added “It’s a good thing that the ballboy did not enter the court or else that would have been a technical foul.”

Nevertheless, Loyzaga also prevailed upon the UAAP Board about adding two more cameras that will be trained on the court for additional footage to complement what is videotaped  by ABS-CBN. This is also to provide better documentation in the event another incident similar to the RR Garcia shot against NU that necessitated a replay of the match.

These cameras (owned by the league) will also be used for the league’s other sporting events.

Personally, I would also like to apologize to La Salle because I made a few tweets about this ballpen incident. Sorry, guys. My bad.

So maybe everyone else can now drop those insinuations.

Good call by the Commissioner.