Source: Ateneo-UST game referees suspended by UAAP

InterAKTV/Roy Afable

The three referees who officiated the game between Ateneo and University of Santo Tomas last Saturday have been meted suspensions, according to a reliable UAAP insider.

Referees Salvador Cortes, Dominique Pomar, and Joenard Garcia have been suspended for the next three playing days for non-calls at the end of the game between the Tigers and the Blue Eagles.

Ateneo won the match, 68-66, but UST put the game under protest. UAAP commissioner Ato Badolato turned down the protest but the Tigers will reportedly raise the protest to the league’s technical committee.

AKTV to confirm the suspension of the three referees with Badolato, but he could not be reached.

In its protest, UST claimed that a technical foul should have been called on Ateneo coach Norman Black with 7.7 seconds left in the game for crossing the half-court line.

According to the insider, Badolato agreed with UST’s assessment that Black should have been called for a technical foul in his response to the Tigers.

“We admonished the referees for not calling it. We cannot, however, call technical on their behalf,” Badolato was quoted in his letter to UST.

UST also complained that Badolato had instructed the referees a crucial basket by Ryan Buenafe after Tigers center Karim Abdul was called for goal-tending. The commissioner denied this in his letter to UST.

“I beg to disagree with the statement that we instructed the referees to count the basket. We merely told them to talk amongst themselves to clarify what happened,” Badolato stated.

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