Bizarre finish marks Bulldogs victory over Maroons

MANILA, Philippines—Add another page to the list of weird finishes in Philippine basketball.   In a country that has seen a player shooting at opponents’ hoops—in an official professional match—the basketball audience watched as one team committed violation after violation so that an opposing player could shoot a free throw he didn’t want to make at all.   That the game ended with a protest was just fitting, as it left the result of a game that looked like it would never end hanging.   National University nearly blew a seven-point advantage in the closing seconds against the  University of the Philippines for a  61-59 victory Sunday that the Maroons placed under protest.   UP coach Boyet Fernandez cited two technical lapses in the second half—non-calls on a lane violation and a goal-tending violation—as the basis of the Maroons’ complaints.   “I’m just fighting for my players, who fought hard throughout the game,” said Fernandez.   The Maroons came close to forging their first triumph in 10 games after back-to-back triples by Alvin Padilla and Mike Silungan trimmed the Bulldogs’ 60-53 lead to just a point, 60-59, with 21.1 seconds left.   UP’s Dionisio Hipolito had the chance to put the Maroons on top, but missed two free throws off Melvin Baloran’s foul with 2.4 seconds remaining.  
“It felt like it was the last second of my life,” said Emmanuel Mbe, the Cameroonian rookie who led  the Bulldogs with 21 points and 16 rebounds.   “I kept thinking that they might get the basket. It was really hard. Great thing nothing happened.”   Part of the UP protest, in fact, was the one of the more bizarre missed  goal-tending calls. Mbe interfered with a shot that was taken by Padilla from beyond the arc.   However, goal-tending violations tend to fall under judgment calls and therefore are not subject to reversals.   Fernandez, a PBA champion coach, insisted a lane violation should have been called after NU’s Jewel Ponferrada’s missed free throws with 1.2 seconds left.   After Ponferrada nailed his first foul shot, the Maroons suspected he would miss the second to deny UP a chance to burn a timeout and draw up a last-second play.   The Maroons deliberately stepped into the shaded area to award Ponferrada another free throw after every miss. This happened five times before referees decided not to call a sixth lane violation on UP after Ponferrada’s last miss.   “Why let go of the last lane violation when you called the previous ones? Many things can still happen in the last 1.2 seconds,” said Fernandez.   “I really instructed Jewel to miss rather than risk on UP sketching a play,” said coach Eric Gonzales after his Bulldogs grabbed solo fifth with a 4-6 record.   The Maroons nearly pulled off the victory even minus injured main man Woody Co (high sprained ankle) and Mark Lopez (anterior cruciate ligament). With reports from Celest Flores, Mark Giongco of INQUIRER.net. Photo from maroonsbasketball.com   The scores:
NATIONAL U 61—Mbe 21, Hermosisima 14, Ponferrada 8,Baloran 6, Khobuntin 3, Javillonar 3, Terso 3, Malanday 3, Ludovice 0, Havelona 0, Ignacio 0, Eriobu 0, Tungcul 0, Singh 0, Magat 0. 
UP 59—Silungan 17, Pafilla 13, Sison 8Reyes Ma. 6, Hipolito 6, Juruena 4, Reyes Mi. 3, Gomez 2, Saret 0, Pascual 0, Maniego 0.
Quarters: 11-15, 20-28, 44-42, 61-59