INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines—The Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws collide with the University of the East (UE) Warriors this Saturday in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament despite the tragedy that befell its star forward Marnel Baracael.

Game time is 4 p.m. at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City with the Tamaraws seeking to keep solo third behind the idle Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles and the De La Salle University Green Archers.

FEU coach Glenn Capacio, however, said the shooting of Baracael on Thursday night hurt the team’s focus.

“The team is no longer thinking about the results in the UAAP; we’re no longer thinking about the championship,” said Capacio. “It’s no longer a priority. We’re only hoping that Mac will be alive and well.

“We cut practice [Friday]. The entire team is down. No one can concentrate.”

Defending champion La Salle vies for its fifth straight triumph against University of the Philippines earlier at 2 p.m.

Baracael was transferred to Capitol Medical Center in Quezon City from Mary Chiles in Manila’s Sampaloc district late Thursday.

“He is stable and conscious and doctors are putting him through tests,” said FEU athletic director Mark Molina.

The parents of Baracael have arrived in Manila from Quezon province.

Baracael suffered a gunshot wound on the left side of his back. The bullet exited through the lower part of his nipple.

Two teammates brought Baracael in a pedicab at the nearby Mary Chiles hospital where a closed tube thoracostomy (CTT) and debridement of gunshot wounds were performed.

A hospital staff member said the CTT was “a life saving procedure” where a tube was inserted in Baracael’s left chest to drain blood around the lungs. He was “conscious all throughout the procedure.”

Police investigators admitted they, too, remained clueless on why the player was shot.

Police Superintendent Ricardo Layug said investigators already have the statements of Baracael and witnesses to the crime and that ballistics tests will be conducted on the shells and slugs recovered by police.

Initial reports from the Manila Police District Station 4 said Baracael was walking toward the FEU gym with teammates Ron Cabagnot and Robert Kave when the suspect shot the 23-year-old player twice at the back with a .45-caliber pistol.

The suspect then “casually walked away” toward España, the police report said.

A staff member at Mary Chiles quoted Baracael as saying he saw the suspect standing one to two meters behind him when he turned.

The initial police report said that “a vendor who witnessed the incident heard two gun shots and saw the suspect removing the gun’s silencer and putting it in his backpack.”

Two empty bullet shells were recovered at the crime scene.

But Layug said in a phone interview with Inquirer.net that, contrary to reports, the 6-foot-3 Baracael had not been shot at close range.

Noting that the gunman was only around 5-foot-2, Layug said “medyo imposible na malapit ang gunman” [“it would have been impossible that the gunman was near the much taller Baracael”].