By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--Arellano announced on Saturday that it will not push through with its initial plan of putting its 114-112 double overtime loss to JRU under protest.
According to Arellano's ManCom representative Peter Cayco, Francisco Cayco, the school president, requested the Chiefs' management to shelve out the protest owing to an officiating error.
“I was ordered by my president not to put the game under protest in the spirit of sportsmanship and in the interest of the NCAA. Jose Rizal [University] had nothing to do with the errors of game officials,” said Peter Cayco in an official statement.
The protest was based on what appeared to be a mistake by the referees not to quickly look at the instant replay of a jumper by Tey Teodoro late in the second overtime period of the game.
Teodoro, with his team up, 110-109, stepped on the three-point line while converting the shot, but the referees ruled it as a triple without going through the instant replay.
After Jio Jalalon answered with a triple to cut the lead to one, he gave up a foul on Gio Lasquety, and it was only during the stoppage of play that the officials reviewed Teodoro's shot and corrected his field goal as a deuce.
But Lasquety still gave the Heavy Bombers the win on Thursday with his two free throws.
With the withdrawal of the protest, the result will now officially stand, handing JRU a season-series sweep of Arellano and also forcing a tie at 6-4.
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