Bulldogs eye lead share vs crippled Warriors

MANILA, Philippines - Streaking National University guns for a share of the UAAP Season 76 men’s basketball lead today when they take on a University of the East side shorthanded by the suspensions of starters Charles Mammie and Lord Casajeros.

The Bulldogs seek their fifth straight win to tie idle Far Eastern at the helm with 8-3 overall in the 4 p.m. encounter, hoping to pounce on the 5-4 Warriors’ decimated roster as a result of sanctions slapped by commissioner Chito Loyzaga in the offshoot of UE’s previous 94-98 double overtime loss to the Tams.

The Warriors’ appeal to have Mammie’s two-game suspension lifted was junked by the UAAP technical committee but their plea to reduce Casajeros’ ban to just one game got a favorable response from the five-member body yesterday.

UE coach Boycie Zamar said he would have elevated the matter to the UAAP board but management decided not to pursue it anymore.

“The UE management has instructed me not to elevate the appeal to the UAAP board. As a good soldier, I will follow their instructions, as much as I wanted to fight what I think was a non-call (in the case of Mammie),” Zamar said.

Mammie got a two-game ban for committing a third unsportsmanlike foul this season – an uncalled infraction in the second period where the slotman from Sierra Leone “stuck out his foot in the landing area of the shooter (Terrence Romeo).”

The technical committee sided with the commissioner and upheld the two-game suspension.

“The committee saw it as ‘clear’ Mammie ‘double-stepped’ on the landing spot of Terrence Romeo,” the UAAP said in a statement yesterday.

Loyzaga ruled that Casajeros should sit out two games because of two unsportsmanlike fouls – one of which was uncalled – during the match against FEU. The technical group didn’t concur 100 percent and granted UE’s appeal.