Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
TIVOLI GARDENS All-Stars advanced to the semi-finals of the Jamaica Basketball Association's DHL Knockout Classic in controversial fashion following the refusal of the Arnett Gardens Rockers to complete Tuesday night's fixture at the National Stadium.
Six minutes into the game between the teams, the referee halted the proceedings and pointed out that the Rockers' top player, Arnel Campbell, was not eligible to take part in the encounter.
Campbell had left the bench during an altercation in the team's previous game against the Blazing Panthers and was apparently given a suspension by the league office.
However, according to the Rockers' coach, Delano Mallet, the team that had not been made aware of any such action against the player and there was no official notification given to the team that the player would be ineligible for the next game.
POOR HANDLING
"In my opinion, the matter was handled very poorly and we refused to continue. If we had won with (Campbell) the game would have been stripped from us and that would not have been fair," Mallet said.
The All-Stars also have their own problems as they have lost floor general Orville Perkins who recently left on a basketball scholarship to the Carl Albert State College in the United States.
The beaten league finalists are yet to play a game in the KO competition and now await the winners of the Harbour View Lakers and Rae Town Raptors which is scheduled to be played this evening at 7:45 at the National Stadium outdoor courts.
The teams who finished in the top four of the b-mobile/KFC - sponsored National Basketball League (NBL) were given a bye to the second round of the competition.
In other round-two games scheduled to be played this weekend, defending league champions St. George's Slayers will look to eliminate the Runnin Rebels, while semi-finalists Urban Knights will look to stop the Denham Town Wizards in a rematch of last season's first round play-off match up.
