NU pursues protest with UAAP body

MANILA, Philippines - UAAP Season 75 basketball commissioner Ato Badolato yesterday turned down National University’s protest on the controversial game last Sunday that saw the Bulldogs absorb a 75-77 setback to Far Eastern University on a last-second layup by Tamaraws’ RR Garcia.

After more review of the tape, Badolato ruled that Garcia did beat the buzzer when he made that shot, thereby upholding the result of the match. 

NU athletic director Junel Baculi said they will pursue their protest with the league’s technical committee, and if still unsuccessful, possibly with the board of trustees as last resort.

“Our protest was turned down by the commissioner’s office so we’ll appeal to the UAAP technical committee first,” Baculi said.

The committee, which is chaired by Fr. Ermito de Sagun of UST and also composed of representatives from Adamson, Ateneo, La Salle, and NU, is set to sit down today at the Mall of Asia to decide on the Bulldogs’ appeal.

“We’ll see from there. I don’t want to pre-empt what the technical committee will recommend to the board,” said Baculi.

NU got a favorable decision in its other protest over at women’s beach volleyball. The school has protested Ateneo using player No. 3. Alyssa Valdez, in place of player No. 2 Bea Tan who was sick and absent from the venue.

“The commissioner upheld our protest and gave us the win. Unfortunately, we failed to qualify for the Final Four,” said Baculi, whose team of Dindin Santiago and Jen Reyes wound up fifth with 3-4 win-loss card.

Meanwhile, defending champion Ateneo (9-1) and La Salle (6-4) seek to boost their respective playoffs bids as they take on University of the East (1-8) and University of the Philippines (2-8), respectively, at the MOA Arena today.

The Blue Eagles, unbeaten in their last eight games and coming off a 77-67 victory over the Archers last Saturday, gun for win No. 10 that will give them a two-game cushion against pursuers FEU (8-3) and University of Santo Tomas (8-3) in the race for the Top 2 spots in the Final Four.

For their part, the Green Archers aim to distance themselves from NU (6-5), their fiercest rival for the fourth semis slot.