NCAA Mancom suspends on 21 players and officials for brawl

This took place with just under a half-a-minute remaining left in the game, with Emilio Aguinaldo College on their way to securing the victory over Mapua Institute of Technology.



In the aftermath of the brawl that marred the ending of the game between MIT and EAC, the NCAA Management Committee (ManCom) handed down suspensions to seventeen players from both schools.

John Tayongtong received the stiffest penalty, a five-game suspension after throwing a punch to CJ Isit. Leo Gabo received the harshest penalty for the Cardinals, a four-game suspension for the push on Tayongtong.

The other players receiving suspensions are as follows:

Three games for EAC’s Jan Jamon, Ariel Aguilar, Jack Arquero and Sidney Onwubere, as well as Mapua’s Jomari Tubiano.
Two games for Mapua's Justin Serrano, James Galoso, Exeq Biteng and Andoy Estrella, as well as EAC’s John Santos, Manell Quilanita and Edsel Saludo.
One game for EAC’s Faustine Pascual, as well as Mapua’s Jerome Canaynay, Ronnel Villasenor and Darrel Magsigay.

For the Cardinals, this means that they will only have four guys (CJ Isit, Jesse Saitanan, Jeson Cantos and Joseph Eriobu) available in their September 29th meeting against Letran. They will have seven guys available for their October 3 meeting against JRU. And that is still considering that they still have a postponed matchup against a College of Saint Benilde side.

For the Generals, this means that they also will only have four guys (Jerald Serrano, Chris Mejos, Ai Indin and Jozhua General) available in their September 26th meeting against Perpetual. And they will end the season against San Sebastian on September 29 with just five available players. They are already undermanned coming into the past few games due to the sudden departures of Cedric Noube Happi and Igee King.

Accompanying the announcement is a simple statement from NCAA ManCom's Paul Supan:

The Mancom condemns in the highest level the unfortunate incident that occured in the Mapua-EAC game.
Hooliganism has no place in an established league like the NCAA.
Proper sanctions based on league rules will be imposed accordingly.

The referees who had overseen the game did not escape the attention and wrath of the league. NCAA Commissioner Bai Cristobal handed out an undisclosed fine and indefinite suspensions to Molly de Luna, Menard Ballecer and Cholo Caoile. These suspensions are limited to the NCAA and don't carry over to the UAAP, who also happens to employ the same set of officials.