INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines ? The warning signs were there before the start of the season.

Now, the UAAP is confronted by the demons of game fixing as allegations swirled that the illegal trade was all over the controversy surrounding guard Mark Barroca, who, according to Far Eastern Saturday, had played his last game as a Tamaraw.

?He will still be a student scheduled to graduate [on] October 2010 [but] he has played his last game for FEU,? said athletic director Mark Molina.

?We stand by our decision,? said UAAP president and FEU team manager Anton Montinola. ?It?s very sad we have to do what?s right for the university.?

FEU?s postgame announcement came a day after the player?s agent, Ed Ponceja, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Barroca was still very much willing to suit up for the school because he was still ?a Tamaraw by blood.?

The statement also came on the heels of an 84-74 defeat to University of the East Saturday that forced a sudden-death showdown between the two traditional college basketball powerhouses for a UAAP championship slot.

While no exact reason was given out, the school officials were hinting at game fixing when they confirmed an Inquirer report that the Tamaraws had decided they were better off continuing their quest in Season ?72 without the Smart Gilas RP developmental pool standout.

?Members of the team expressed dissatisfaction with his play [and] we spoke to everyone in the team individually,? Molina said. ?The decision was made that the best thing to do for FEU is to play without Mark.?

When asked if that meant the team was alleging that Barroca fixed games, Montinola said: ?What was discussed was the statistics [of Barroca], and statistics don?t lie. We have all the statistics and you?re welcome to review it. We?re not talking about one game.?

Last Friday, the Inquirer ? citing a source who was immediately informed by a team member of the result of an informal straw vote ? came out with a story that the Tams had decided to play without Barroca, citing the dip in his performance in recent games.

Barroca is currently staying at the home of his agent, who said they would release a statement on Monday.

For the meantime, Barroca will focus on his studies, his agent said, and his stint with the Smart Gilas five. Barroca has started practicing with the Smart Gilas team.

?We have been in close communication with Smart Gilas the whole week to make sure that Mark is well taken care of,? said Molina

The Inquirer came out with a four-part series before the start of the UAAP season about game fixing and several officials, including a former player, explained that the illegal trade had gone big in the college ranks and needed to be dealt with immediately.

But the lack of a firm UAAP response gave rise to speculations early in the season that something big would explode during the tournament.

?We have to deal with that accordingly,? said Montinola. ?The UAAP is very popular. There are a lot of temptations. We just have to keep advising our players. But there?s no guarantee that it won?t happen again.?