MANILA, Philippines – The PBA will punish the referee who missed a call late in the Meralco Bolts’ 92-89 comeback win over the Bay Area Dragons in the Commissioner’s Cup on Friday, November 4.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said game official Jerry Narandan will be suspended for failing to whistle an eight-second violation against Meralco, a crucial call that would have given Bay Area more chances to catch up.

The Dragons were trailing 89-92 when Bolts big man Raymond Almazan hauled down a rebound off a Glen Yang three-point miss with around 20 seconds remaining.

But there were only around nine ticks left by the time Meralco crossed the ball past the half court line, meaning the Bolts committed a clear eight-second infraction.

No calls were made, though, as Meralco milked more time before Bay Area got into penalty for fouling Bong Quinto and Allein Maliksi, leaving 3.5 seconds on the clock.

Although Maliksi missed both of his free throws that would have padded the Bolts’ lead, Kobey Lam muffed the game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer as the Dragons suffered just their second defeat of the conference.

The loss also put to waste a sensational performance from Bay Area import Andrew Nicholson, who erupted for a conference-high 50 point on top of 12 rebounds and 3 assists.

Bay Area dropped to second place with a 6-2 card, behind league-leading Magnolia (5-1), while Meralco boosted its playoff hopes as it snapped a three-game skid to improve to 2-5. – Rappler.com