The PBA yesterday slapped a P10,000 fine on Magnolia’s Danny Seigle for punching Ginebra’s forward Billy Mamaril three times during their team’s tune-up game last Wednesday at the Green Meadows gym.
The scuffle was witnessed by PBA technical chief Perry Martinez, who was around to brief the teams on the league’s new rules.
Game tape showed that after excessive physical jostling and elbowing exchanges inside the paint with Mamaril, the sweet-shooting Seigle, without any provocation, threw three punches on the Ginebra cager.
“If not for the intervention of cooler heads and the inability of Mamaril to counteract Seigle’s punches, the incident would have gotten worse,” PBA officer-in-charge Sonny Barrios said.
Barrios said the offense would easily draw a stiffer fine and a suspension under the rules had the incident taken place in a regular PBA game.
“Since that infraction occurred during a practice game and not sanctioned by the league, we shall not apply the usual rules,” Barrios told Seigle.
The league OIC spared Mamaril from any sanction since the Ginebra forward didn’t engage Seigle in the commotion.