Getting the boot
Chalk up two losses in a game for the National U Lady Bulldogs, who, after losing lopsidedly to bitter rival and defending UAAP women’s basketball champion University of Santo Tomas on Saturday, will not have assistant coach Paul Du for the rest of Season 89 because of a cheap shot on his UST counterpart.
Du was canned by the league’s basketball Commissioner’s Office for the rest of the season on Monday after he had dropped Arsenio Dysangco with a “forceful elbow” during the customary handshake at center court of Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday that required medical attention for Dysangco.
“The suspension takes effect immediately and will remain in place until the official end of the season,” the statement, released to the media, said as photos of Dysangco on the floor and one being wheeled out made the rounds on popular sports websites that took some of the luster away from the Golden Tigresses’ 90-66 win.
Santo Tomas remained as the only unbeaten team in the field with the win and dealt the Lady Bulldogs their first blemish of the young season. The two schools have disputed the women’s title the last three years, with the Tigresses again installed as the favorites this year.
It wasn’t clear why Du came up with that cheap shot considering that the game wasn’t as heated as the Tigresses had command practically the entire game.
“They gave their perfect effort and it showed on the scoreboard,” Santo Tomas assistant Jude Paulite said after the Tigresses rose to 3-0.
Santo Tomas closed out the first half with a 15-4 to take a 17-point lead into the third quarter, a cushion the Lady Bulldogs never came close to dismantling.
The latest penalty that Commissioner Jai Reyes hands out comes on the heels of Ateneo interim coach Louie Alas getting canned for a game for three violations, counting physical misconduct on one of La Salle’s players during the rival squad’s first clash this season last Wednesday.
Two of those three violations were actually committed by assistant coach Kerby Raymundo, who had an exchange of words with La Salle guard Vhoris Marasigan.
Raymundo, an all-time PBA great, was also cited for improper bench decorum back in the Blue Eagles’ match against the University of the Philippines. Both acts were still attributed to Alas, him being the head coach.
The Alas and Du suspensions, also according to media releases by the UAAP, can be appealed, although the all-powerful board of the league led by president Mark Molina has yet to make its decision regarding the Du incident.
