PBA denies Air21 appeal, admits game officials erred

PBA commissioner Renauld “Sonny” Barrios yesterday denied Air 21’s appeal for a replay of the controversial game it lost to San Miguel Beer in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last Wednesday, saying it “did not decide the outcome of the game.”

Barrios, however, admitted that the game officials committed a serious judgment error.

“While the error happened with only 9.8 seconds remaining in the first overtime period, the turn of events made the game go into a second overtime period and effectively provided five more minutes for Air21 to recover from the negative effects of the error,” Barrios said.

“We wish to reiterate that in the determination of protests filed with our office, the PBA has over the years consistently leaned towards rigidity in upholding the finality of actual game results unless the facts and the rules clearly indicate otherwise. To our mind, hurting as it may be at times, the policy weighs heavier in the long term consideration of the overall good,” Barrios said.

Air21 governor and team manager Lito Alvarez was upset with the commissioner’s decision, saying “they will not hear the last from us.”

“Actually, I haven’t seen the decision. But if our appeal was turned down, we’ll not take it sitting down. Malaking kalokohan yan (It‘s a big mistake),” said Alvarez.

San Miguel won the game, 130-129, in double overtime, but Air21 placed the game under protest, claiming the Express should have won it right in the first overtime on a triple by Ranidel de Ocampo that was counted as only a two-point shot by the referees.

In the last 17 years, league records showed only two protested games had been ordered replayed – the game between Shell Rimula X versus Purefoods played on March 17, 1991 and the encounter between Talk n Text and Barangay Ginebra on March 21, 2003.

Barrios emphasized that both games “involved technical errors” as both matches were decided by last second shots in which the losing team had no time to recover from the technical error.

Barrios, however, said the incident was an eye-opener and will be used to improve some existing rules.

“This episode has opened our eyes to the need to revisit our present rules regarding game video review and challenges. We have to devise a mechanism that would allow the correction of such a glaring error, what with the technology that is available to us of course without unnecessarily disrupting the flow of the game,” said Barrios.