THE referees who worked the knockout game between Ginebra San Miguel and GlobalPort in the in the quarterfinals of the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup were banned from officiating for the rest of the season for their failure to call a five-second ball-hogging violation and a stepping infraction on GlobalPort guard Stanley Pringle in the final play of the Batang Pier’s 84-83 overtime win over the Gin Kings.
In banning referees Edward Aquino and Rommel Gruta, the PBA admitted the officials missed the violations committed by Pringle.
This means that Aquino and Gruta will not be able to officiate for a maximum of 21 games and a minimum of 15 as the season-opening conference goes to its Final Four phase with best-of-seven playoffs pitting Rain or Shine against San Miguel and Alaska against GlobalPort.
After meeting with the league’s technical committee and the referees involved, Commissioner Chito Narvasa said they were convinced that the five-second violation or stepping call should’ve been called as Pringle struggled to get himself out of a double team put up by Ginebra’s Sol Mercado and Greg Slaughter.
During the meeting, the referees admitted they erred in failing to make either call and apologized for the lapse, the PBA said.
In a statement, the PBA Office of the Commissioner said that “the referees accepted that they missed the call, they were apologetic and were ready to face the sanctions that would be imposed on them.”
In the deliberation with the technical committee, it was determined that two violations were not called. One was the 5-second ball hogging violation, which was the responsibility of referee Gruta.
The second infraction was the backing violation of Pringle, whose responsibility was that of referee Aquino’s.
The statement also added that the “technical committee also determined that only referees Aquino and Gruta were liable for these missed calls.”
As a result of these two non-calls, Barangay Ginebra was denied final ball possession.
The technical committee decided that both referees shall be suspended for the rest of the ongoing Philippine Cup effective immediately.