Tautuaa, Maliksi lead score of PBA players facing sanctions

MANILA, Philippines — GlobalPort’s Moala Tautuaa, Blackwater’s Allein Maliksi and Columbian Dyip’s Eric Camson lead a host of players facing early sanctions for misconduct in the tumultuous opener of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.

“I guess some players tested the limit of the physicality we allow in the game. There were excessive contacts. We’ll review the tapes and we would sanction those needed to be sanctioned,” said PBA commissioner Willie Marcial.

A score of technical and flagrant infractions, and near fights marred the opening double-header in the mid-season tourney where Columbian Dyip blasted Blackwater, 126-98, then TNT smothered GlobalPort, 128-114.

Maliksi and Camson went at each other and had to be separated in the Columbian Dyip-Blackwater tussle while Tautuaa and TNT import Jeremy Tyler figured in a separate fracas in the other game.

Tyler also had a separate incident with GlobalPort counterpart Malcolm White in the highly emotional, physical battle marking Terrence Romeo’s and Tautuaa’s first outing with their new teams — curiously against their former ball clubs.

“It’s nice that the PBA is allowing some amount of physicality but I think there were some unnecessary actions in some possessions that the commissioner has to look at,” noted TNT coach Nash Racela.

“There are a lot of excessive movements on the part of the players. We have to take notice of that,” he added.

The Texters and the Batang Pier engaged in a rugged match where a total of 71 fouls were called.

Tautuaa took the showers ahead of the rest on a flagrant foul penalty 2 incurred for kicking Tyler while he was hanging in the rim following a two-handed slam.

The Fil-Tongan player said he was provoked with Tyler grabbing his foot.

GlobalPort import Malcolm White incurred a flagrant foul right in the opening half and went out on fouls with 5:41 left to play and the Batang Pier trailing by 11 at 98-109.

Tyler and Joseph Gabayni also drew infractions of their own. The GlobalPort third-string center committed a flagrant foul on smashing on the head a driving RR Pogoy.

There’s also a large amount of trash-talking in the TNT-GlobalPort setto.

In the end, Romeo prevailed over his former team GlobalPort in their initial face-off.

But the three-time PBA scoring champ may also face sanction for his attack on the officiating after the game.

Romeo struggled with a bad shooting most of the game but had his clutch shots in TNT KaTropa’s fourth-quarter rampage on the way to their 14-point victory.

The 5-foot-10 guard knocked in back-to-back long twinners to make it 115-100 before committing three successive turnovers prompting the TNT coach to rest him in the last 2:53 of the game.

Romeo later ridiculed the referee to have learned officiating from another planet.