PBA suspends referee over wrong Game 4 call as Ginebra advances

The official will work no more games in these playoffs. Commissioner Willie Marcial disclosed the suspension on November 10, 2026, according to Inquirer.net, but did not name the referee. The punishment covers the remainder of the playoffs; it is not an announced permanent dismissal.⁠1

Barangay Ginebra has since won the series, which settles the basketball contest without settling every question about the officiating. San Miguel’s 108–102 victory at Smart Araneta Coliseum on November 6 tied the best-of-five Governors’ Cup quarterfinal at 2–2. Ginebra lost its opportunity to close out the series that night and had to play a deciding fifth game.⁠19

The disputed sequence began with Lassiter inbounding to King while Thompson guarded him. A November 8 column in Pilipino Star Ngayon placed it inside the final 20 seconds, with San Miguel ahead by three points. That account does not establish the exact clock reading or the scoreboard score when the whistle sounded.⁠11

Those limits matter. The six-point margin in the final result was not the margin at the disputed call. It cannot be used to dismiss a mistake made when the lead was three. Equally, a correct travelling call would not, by itself, establish that Ginebra would have won. It would have changed how that possession was handled, not supplied the outcome of every play that might have followed.⁠11⁠19

Ginebra coach Tim Cone’s complaint after the defeat was that the crucial call had killed his team’s momentum, as Spin reported. The league’s subsequent acknowledgment moves the issue beyond a losing coach’s objection: according to Marcial’s reported assessment, this was a travelling violation wrongly treated as a defender’s foul. That establishes an officiating error, not an alternative final score.⁠3⁠1

Contemporaneous coverage also differed over the name of the round. The Pilipino Star Ngayon column described a semifinal, while Spin’s Game 4 match report and Inquirer’s suspension report identified a quarterfinal. The match reporting establishes the best-of-five quarterfinal, with a semifinal place still at stake.⁠11⁠19⁠1

Marcial acknowledged another Game 4 failure involving San Miguel: Chris Ross should have received a technical foul. Spin reported the commissioner’s words as “Para sa akin, technical na dapat yun.” In English:

That acknowledgment must be kept separate from the King–Thompson call. The suspension followed the wrong whistle involving King and Thompson; the reporting does not establish that the Ross incident caused the referee’s punishment. Nor do the available details establish the precise conduct for which Ross should have been assessed a technical. Combining the two would make the disciplinary account sound more complete than it is.⁠1⁠13

The sanction itself is concrete: the official loses the remaining playoff assignments. The public explanation is narrower. The disciplinary account rests on reported remarks by Marcial, rather than a separately obtained league ruling. The referee’s identity and a fuller explanation of the disciplinary assessment remain undisclosed. Readers can know both that the league acted and that it has not publicly explained the decision in full.⁠1

Removing an official from the rest of a postseason is a consequence. It is not a reconstruction of the game, and it does not answer every question about how the mistake was assessed. An admission tells supporters what the whistle should have been. A fuller explanation would tell them more about the accountability that followed.

When Inquirer’s initial disciplinary report appeared, Game 5 was still being played. Later match reports supplied the resolution: Ginebra beat San Miguel 110–94 on November 10 at Ynares Center in Antipolo, taking the series 3–2 and advancing to face TNT in the semifinals. GMA News and Manila Standard both reported the deciding victory.⁠1⁠17⁠18

That result changes the stakes of the aftermath, not the facts of Game 4. San Miguel’s disputed win forced another elimination contest, but did not ultimately end Ginebra’s playoff run. Ginebra earned its place in the next round on the court. The league’s admission and the referee’s suspension still stand on their own: winning the next game did not make the previous whistle correct.