The second game in the best-of-three final series of the NOPSSCEA Season 32 men’s basketball between the defending champion West Negros University Mustangs and the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos Rams now hangs in the balance after UNO-R wrote to the NOPSSCEA Board of Directors seeking a neutral ground after WNU hosted Game 1.

Fr. Louie Gabinete, UNO-R Vice President for Student’s Welfare, said they are not sure if they are playing in Game 2 until the NOPSSCEA acts on their letter and make a decision.

“We will respect and will abide with what the NOPSSCEA will decide. We only wanted to be clarified on certain things, including the possibility of holding Game 2 on neutral ground,” Gabinete said.

Refusing to elaborate on the content of their letter, he assured all concerned parties that UNO-R only wanted to protect the integrity of NOPSSCEA and it will be better if everything is laid on the table.

“We need to sit down and talk this out and come up with a favorable solution for both sides. Everybody was emotional during and after Game 1,” Gabinete said, referring to the 78-77 victory of the Mustangs last Sunday at their homecourt.

“We have so much respect for the NOPSSCEA. We need to settle this matter as soon as possible,” the UNO-R official said.

Meanwhile, NOPSSCEA sports task force chairman and basketball tournament director Carlo Anthony Agustin refused to comment on the issue.

Although he was aware that UNO-R submitted a letter to the NOPSSCEA board, Agustin said he has not received a copy and does not know its actual content.

He also failed to attend the scheduled board meeting of the NOPSSCEA yesterday due to a conflict in his personal schedule, Agustin said.

“As far as my office is concerned, there is Game 2 tomorrow at 5 p.m. at the WNU Gym,” he said.

Earlier, Agustin said UNO-R coach Rolando Aledron waived his rights to play in a homecourt and agreed to play anywhere due to the unavailability of the UNO-R Gym.

He said the decision to host all semifinal and final games at the WNU has been announced earlier and was agreed upon by all participating teams --- Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod, University of St. La Salle, UNO-R, and WNU.

Agustin’s statement, however, was refuted by Aledron, who told the DAILY STAR that the homecourt issue against UNO-R applied only to the eliminations. He insisted that there was an agreement among the teams to hold a 2-1 home-and-away format in the finals.

“We had an agreement on this, and since WNU is the No. 1 team, they can have two games. We are only asking for one game away from WNU Gym to settle the issue,” Aledron added.

Meanwhile, USLS Center for External Relations director Rhoderick Samonte said La Salle is “more than willing” to host UNO-R’s home game should the NOPSSCEA board decide on it.

He said they understand UNO-R’s dilemma of not having a homecourt right now and if hosting one of the final games at the La Salle Coliseum will help solve the issue, then USLS is willing to accommodate UNO-R.

NOPSSCEA Board of Directors ex-oficio member Dr. Rosario de Guzman, confirmed that the board was scheduled to discuss UNO-R’s letter yesterday in their meeting.

However, she said only NOPSSCEA president. Dr. Gereon Cabarles can make an official announcement on the issue.*NAB

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