Lone UP victory suddenly in peril

UNIVERSITY of the Philippines faces possible forfeiture of its lone triumph as American player Chris Ball has yet to complete the documents required from foreign students in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

Ball, a 6-foot-5 rookie from Canyon High School, California, failed to submit his Alien Certificate Registration (ACR) before the first-round deadline the league has set.

UP, though, has requested the UAAP Board  for a deadline extension due to unexpected delays in procuring Ball’s document.

UAAP president Nilo Ocampo said yesterday that the Board will meet next week to tackle Ball’s eligibility.

“We’ll weigh the reasons for the delay of the document,” said Ocampo. “The reason has to be valid. If it was just due to a late request of the document, then it might result to forfeiture.”

The Maroons registered their first victory over the University of the East, 63-48, to wrap up their first-round campaign with a 1-6 record last Sunday.

Ball had seven points, seven rebounds and one block in 29 minutes of action in the Maroons’ breakthrough triumph.

UP coach Ricky Dandan said there were several circumstances beyond the team’s control that caused the delay, including the recent typhoons that grounded school and office work for several days.

“We requested for an extension, but we expect his ACR to be ready by Wednesday,” said Dandan, who decided to sit out Ball in the Maroons’ 73-66 setback to Ateneo yesterday.

Ball is one of seven foreigners seeing action this season along with Far Eastern University’s Christian Sentcheu (Cameroonian) and Anthony Hargrove (American), National University’s Henri Atanga Betayene and Emmanuel Mbe (Cameroonians), UP’s Alinko Mbah (Nigerian) and University of Santo Tomas’ Karim Abdul (Cameroonian).

A nephew of former PBA cager Bong Hawkins, Ball averaged 7.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in seven games in the first round.