THE Management Committee (ManCom) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) denied on Thursday an appeal by the College of Saint Benilde for its players not to be penalized for their actions in their brawl-marred game against Jose Rizal University (JRU) last Tuesday.
“We asked that the suspension on three of our players be lifted but our appeal was denied,” said Dax Castellano, Saint Benilde’s representative to the ManCom.
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Al Panlilio, meanwhile, said in a statement on Thursday that the federation condemned the violent incident and urged the NCAA, a member of the SBP, to adopt preventive measures to avoid the incident from happening again.
“It’s a collective decision by the ManCom, it’s en banc, so it’s final and we respect it,” he said.
Ladis Lepalam Jr. was suspended one game for entering the court without reporting to the table while his fellow Blazers Mark Daniel Sangco and Chris Jay Flores were suspended for two games for participating in the fight.
The Saint Benilde-JRU game went down in Philippine basketball history as one of the darkest. Heavy Bomber John Anthony Amores again lost his top and went amok and went after a fan and a referee and engaged his opponents in a fist fight.
BusinessMirror reported on Thursday that an unidentified fan and referee Dennis Escaros caused Amores to go berserk in that particular game.
The NCAA banned Amores for the rest of the season and formed an investigation committee to tackle his case.
Nine players from JRU—Jason Tan, William Sy, Joshua Guiab, Jason Celis, Marvin Dionisio, Jan Marc Abaoag, Jonathan Medina, Karl de Jesus and CJ Gonzales—were suspended for one game for entering the court during the brawl, while William Sy and Ryan Arenal were suspended for two games for committing disrespectful acts to the ManCom.
JRU apologized for Amores’s behavior and also suspended him indefinitely from the team.
The referees called the game, which was halted with more than three minutes remaining when the fight broke out, in favor of the Blazers, 71-51.
