Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—National University lost yet another game in the UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball tournament when it fell to De La Salle, 85-61, but that result was somewhat buried in a late game altercation between Jamike Jarin and Jermaine Byrd.
Jarin found it disrespectful when Byrd, the Green Archers’ active consultant, called a timeout with 1:24 left in the game and La Salle holding an insurmountable 83-60 lead.
Byrd defended his timeout call saying that he only used the timeout to allow center Justine Baltazar, who was cramping up, to get some rest but Jarin wasn’t buying that.
Asked if he took offense with Byrd’s decision, Jarin shrugged and said “who wouldn’t?”
“It is unwritten ethics because everybody knows that, not only in basketball,” said Jarin Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena after the Bulldogs dropped to a league-worst 1-7 card.
“I don’t know what his intentions were, I think he just wanted to field in the other guys.”
Looking at the broader situation of his team, Jarin said that with time running out, the only thing NU could do is to keep on fighting.
Mathematically, NU still has a chance to make the Final Four but it would need to win their remaining six games and also rely on the other teams to lose as well.
“You just continue to push and continue to compete,” said Jarin. “You hope for the best.”