UAAP men’s basketball commissioner Jai Reyes talked about what happened during the baffling 4-on-5 situation late in the Adamson-UP game Wednesday, Sept. 24.
Late-game confusion plagued the match between Adamson and reigning titlist University of the Philippines in the UAAP Season 88 men's basketball at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion in Manila Wednesday, Sept. 25.
For a 20-second span in the fourth quarter, only four Falcons were in action against five Fighting Maroons.
After a double foul resulted in the exit of AdU big man Cedrick Manzano at the 1:30 mark of the fourth and with the game tied at 57-all, the Falcons failed to check in a substitute for Manzano.
But play resumed, and before officials could pause the match due to the error of having only nine players on the court, Adamson committed a turnover.
Joshua Barcelona was eventually subbed in for Manzano, and play continued at the 1:10 mark.
The clock was not reset to the time of Manzano’s exit at 1:30, which was the topic of discussion among officials and the coaching staff of Adamson.
The Falcons eventually sealed the win, 62-59, thanks to a dagger triple by Ray Torres.
UAAP commissioner Jai Reyes explains
UAAP men’s basketball commissioner Jai Reyes explained the situation after the match.
“Matt Erolon (subbing in for Torres) was in the scorer's table. He was going to report to go inside the game. Now, noong na-foul out si Manzano, 'yong crew chief natin, he signaled Erolon to the game already. So that makes five players of Adamson on the court. For about ten seconds or so, according to the video, lima silang nasa loob,” Reyes said.
“After around ten seconds, biglang lumabas si Torres ng Adamson to the bench. Hawak na ng referee natin 'yong bola, ready to inbound… Ang papalitan kasi talaga ni Erolon, si Torres.”
[RELATED STORY: Racela lauds Adamson's maturity in upset of reigning champ UP in UAAP men's basketball]
While Reyes said that there is still an ongoing investigation, he acknowledged that it all stemmed from confusion among all parties.
“We would like to just recognize, officially, 'yon ang nangyari. On the side of the player, alam ko kung ano 'yong nangyari, nagka-confusion,” admitted Reyes.
“Pero officially, na-recognize, Erolon in for Manzano dahil na-foul out siya.”
After speaking with the officials, Reyes said that the league will be reaching out to Adamson and UP to clear all matters regarding the particular sequence.
Aiming to gather enough video evidence for a clearer investigation, Reyes said that he hopes to give the teams an answer by Thursday, Sept. 25.
“Hopefully, by tomorrow (Thursday). We’ll try our best,” said Reyes.
Moving forward, Reyes said that he and the officials will do better to recognize unique situations such as this.
“We told the officials na at the end of the day, you recognize five players. Sa video, biglang tumakbo si Torres palabas, dapat nakita pa rin kahit papaano [kung] five 'yong players. So again, the referees aren't completely correct,” Reyes said.
“May pagkakamali rin sila. High-level officials, talagang dapat nakita pa rin nilang bigla palang may tumakbo.”
Action resumes this weekend at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
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Luisa Morales is a sportswriter with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team and mixed martial arts.