The PBA admitted that the referees made a crucial non-call on the supposed eight-second violation against Meralco in the waning seconds of its narrow 92-89 victory over Bay Area on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Deputy Commissioner Eric Castro confirmed after the game and following a review that umpire Jerry Narandan indeed missed to call the crucial violation inside the final 20 seconds of the highly contested match. The league said the referee is facing a possible one rotation suspension or at least three to four games for the late-game blunder.
The Bolts were up by three, 92-89, when Glen Yang missed on a three-pointer before Meralco center Raymond Almazan collared the rebound with 20.9 seconds left in the clock.
He passed the ball to Allein Maliksi who fumbled the ball but managed to gather it before passing it once again to Aaron Black who then pitched the leather to Bong Quinto to their frontcourt with 9.4 second left in the game clock.
Despite the missed call, the Dragons still had the chance to send the game to an extra period after Allein Maliksi botched two free throws with 3.5 seconds left. Bay Area though failed to find the bottom of the net in its final possession with 2.8 seconds remaining as Kobey Lamb came up short on his three-point heave.
That allowed the Bolts to escape with the victory and end a three-game slide while handing the Dragons their second loss in the conference despite the 50 points from import Andrew Nicholson.