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BOTH the College of Saint Benilde and San Beda College are now awaiting the decision regarding the former’s protest over a different jersey donned by Red Lions big man Sam Ekwe in their July 18, 2008 contest in the 84th NCAA seniors basketball tournament.

Blazers head coach Gee Abanilla, in a conversation with inboundpass.com, said that he, along with assistant coaches Mon Jose and Richard del Rosario, met with school officials, including CSB NCAA Management Committee representative Henry Atayde, to finalize their game protest against San Beda College last Monday, July 20.

When asked about his knowledge of the protest lodged against San Beda right after the game, Abanilla said, “I honestly did not notice San Ekwe’s jersey, and was only told that the game would be put under protest after reprimanding my players in the locker room for allowing San Beda to beat them that way.”

Abanilla recounts that he was not aware of the protest until his captain, Jacob Manlapaz, signed the official box score after the game. The CSB head tactician noted that the protest had already been inserted into the box score without his, or Manlapaz’s knowledge. “Apparently, someone asked Jacob to sign the box score with the protest on the game sheet.”

That same day, Abanilla said that an infraction report on Ekwe’s jersey had already been submitted by the NCAA.

According to him, a three-step process is exercised in order to lodge a formal game protest. The first is the formulation of the protest, which was undertaken the moment his team captain signed the game’s box score. The next step is the filing of an infraction report, while the third is the finalization of the game protest to be headed by school officials.

In the meeting in the CSB campus, Abanilla said that all he did was air his sentiments on the matter. “I think my opinion on whether or not to lodge the protest was moot and academic. The decision had already been undertaken last Friday after the game.”

“All I said was, I follow the rules, I don’t make them. The school decided to finalize the protest and all I did was support the school,” he reiterated.

Also, the ex-De La Salle University point guard explained that the NCAA has been very strict with implementing rules on jerseys. In the Blazers’ opening game of the season against Philippine Christian University, both he and Dolphins mentor Joel Dualan were warned by league commissioner Joe Lipa about fielding in players wearing wrong uniforms.

“One of my players, Dustin Posadas, wore a wrong jersey. His jersey number did not match the one listed in the official lineups. Coach Joe told me that if I fielded him, I would run the risk of facing a protest, so I decided not to play Dustin. Coach Joel [Dualan] also had the same problem with one of his players.”

Abanilla explained that even in other sports, the league has already launched a crackdown on wrong uniforms. “Jose Rizal University filed a protest against CSB’s volleyball team because one of our players wore a jersey with her name at the back misspelled. This is clearly a violation.”

NCAA officials said they will discuss the game protest sometime this week. At the earliest, a decision could be arrived at on Wednesday, July 23, or 48 hours after the official and final protest was filed.

Tags: CSB-Blazers, Gee-Abanilla, Henry-Atayde, NCAA-Mancom, NCAA-Season-84, Petron, Sam-Ekwe, San-Beda-Red-Lions

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