PBA slaps fines on players, coaches

A total of P65,000 in fines was meted out Friday on three players and two coaches by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Derby Ace’s Peter June Simon and Air21’s Wesley Gonzales received the biggest penalties handed down by league commissioner Atty. Chito Salud. They were penalized P20,000 each for separate offenses. Simon was slapped with the amount for throwing the ball to Ogie Menor – a flagrant foul 2 – in Derby Ace’s game against Meralco last Wednesday. Simon also suffered an automatic one-game suspension, which he already served Friday in the Llamados’ final elimination game against the Barako Bull Boosters. Gonzales, meanwhile, was meted with a similar penalty for head-butting Jeff Chan in the Express’ game against Rain or Shine Wednesday. Not spared were coaches Yeng Guiao and Caloy Garcia. Guiao was penalized P10,000 for confronting the referees and attempting to enter the game officials’ room at halftime, while Garcia was fined a similar amount for confronting Ramil Cruz, the technical committee chief, after the RoS-Air21 match-up. Also assessed with a penalty was Derby Ace veteran big man Romel Adducul (P5,000) for the flagrant foul 1 he committed last week, while JR Reyes of Rain or Shine was warned for the hard foul he committed that bordered on an FF1. – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV