Top La Salle recruit faces full-season suspension

The prized recruit known for posting monstrous numbers may end up not playing for La Salle next season after all.

After serving a two-year residency, Cameroonian Ben Mbala may be slapped with a one-year suspension in UAAP basketball after getting caught playing in a provincial tournament last December.

The 6-foot-7 Mbala saw action in the Manny Pacquiao Sports Challenge or the “Pacman Cup,” an eight-team tournament organized by the Filipino icon, from Dec. 2 to 9 at Tambler Gym and Lagao Gym in General Santos City.

Mbala, according to Inquirer sources, bagged the Finals MVP award when he powered Glan Montana to the championship of the tournament that featured teams from the municipalities of Pacquiao’s hometown.

The stint could be a big blow to the Green Archers’ bid of reclaiming the title as league rules state that players “in the process of establishing residency requirements in the UAAP shall not play for another team in any league.”

A violation of the rule would mean “an additional one-year residency” and that year-long penalty “shall be counted in his/her playing years in the UAAP.”

La Salle, though, hasn’t imposed any sanctions on Mbala.

“We are still gathering all the information regarding the matter,” Edwin Reyes, La Salle’s representative to the UAAP board, said yesterday.

The UAAP board, too, isn’t expected to tackle the case until the eligibility deliberations before the 2015 season, which has been moved to an August or September opening.

A UAAP school reportedly holds a video evidence of Mbala’s stint in Pacquiao’s tourney.

Mbala may have just made it worse when he sent a message to online sports portal Spin, in which he admitted to have played in a General Santos tournament. He argued, though, that it was just “a festival” and denied receiving compensation for his stint.

The champion team reportedly received a P600,000 prize and imports like Mbala were said to have been paid P25,000 per game.

Mbala, who joined the Archers in 2013 as a transferee from Southwestern U in Cebu, has been touted to beef up an already imposing La Salle frontline as he teams up with big men Arnold Van Opstal and Prince Rivero.

Mbala first made waves in Manila when he played for SWU in the 2012 PCCL Final Four and posted 41 points and 16 rebounds in a game.