UP Junior cager gets 20-day TRO

HIGH school basketball player Joshua MacDaniel General took his battle in another court and won.

After obtaining a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the UAAP from barring him from playing for the University of the Philippines Integrated School in the juniors basketball tournament this season, General suited up yesterday and  finished with two points, 10 rebounds and two assists in the Junior Maroons’ 73-71 victory over University of Santo Tomas.

The UAAP Board had earlier announced it will abide by the 20-day TRO issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 99 Judge Ma. Rita Bascos Sarabia on Aug. 16.

UAAP secretary Ma. Luisa Isip of host Adamson said the league will allow General to play “in UPIS’s games covered by the 20-day period” as the Board has yet to discuss the ramifications of General’s actions.

“The UAAP Board will have on its agenda the TRO issue for its regular board meeting on Aug. 22,” said Isip in a statement.

General’s parents, Jose and Mary Christine General, filed the TRO after the UAAP Board ruled two weeks ago that their son can no longer play for the rest of the season as he exceeded the five-year playing window for high school athletes.

The decision also forfeited the Junior Maroons’ lone first-round victory last July 15 where they outlasted the Baby Falcons, 89-87, in quadruple overtime.

General graduated from sixth grade at Naga Parochial School in 2008, then later attended Grade 7 at Lourdes School Mandaluyong where he graduated from elementary for the second time in 2010.

The league initially declared General eligible to play this season, since he still falls within the eligibility period as a 2010 elementary graduate.

But officials recently found out that before attending Lourdes, General enrolled as a high school freshman in San Beda Taytay in 2008 then later dropped out in October of the same year.