Buzzer-beater of a ref faces suspension

The referee who called the buzzer-beating foul that led to an FEU victory over National University last Saturday is in hot water.

A game official who requested anonymity yesterday told The STAR that the UAAP board, together with commissioner Edmundo "Ato" Badolato, will hand down a decision this afternoon, adding that from many points of view, a suspension is in order.

The controversial call, a foul by NU’s Edwin Asoro against FEU’s Don Yabut, was made as the overtime buzzer sounded and with the score tied at 85. Yabut grabbed the rebound after a miss by NU’s Rey Mendoza before he was held in the arms by Asoro.

Instead of letting it go, one of the three referees called a foul. Since the Bulldogs were in penalty, two charities were given to the FEU center. The call literally decided the outcome of the game as Yabut made the first charity but missed the second for an 86-85 FEU win.

The Bulldogs, who remained winless in five starts, lost coach Rico Perez two technical fouls in the first half but still managed to hold ground, coming so close to a major upset until that questionable call that would have led to a riot had it gone against Ginebra in the PBA.

"Sintido komon. You don’t call that foul because it came with the buzzer. Besides, Yabut had his back against the FEU court and there was no way he could have made the shot from almost 90 feet. And Asoro couldn’t have scored also had the snatched the ball. There was no time to do that," said the official.

"The commissioner will announce the decision. But that referee is in trouble," he added. "It should have been a let-go situation unless a player was punched. That would have been a different case. This call decided the outcome of the game. There was no time left, the score was tied, there was penalty situation and you award two charities."

In close, endgame situations like that, referees should always be conscious and aware of only two things: the time and the foul situation of both teams, the official stressed.

"As I said, unless inapak yan hindi na tinatawag yan kasi you will decide the game. The referees must be conscious of time and the penalty situation. Pang let-go talaga. Let the players decide. There was a foul you cannot argue with that but considering that time has almost expired and penalty pa, let-go na," another official said.

"Bawal ang manipis na tawag sa endgame. I’m sure there was no malice behind the call but if the referee was conscious of the time and the penalty situation, he wouldn’t have called it. Kasama sa training nila yan. It’s is a common practice even in the PBA or even the NBA," added the game official.