Meralco import Mario West was fuming after the his team’s loss to the San Mig Coffee Mixers on Friday.
The Bolts reinforcement complained that there should have been a foul called on his final attempt, which could have given him a chance to win or tie the game.
His coach, Ryan Gregorio, agreed with him, noting the case during Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s controversial win last week over Rain or Shine.
In that game, the Gin Kings won after three free throws from Mac Baracael, who was fouled by Beau Belga on a last-second attempt.
Despite protestations from the Rain or Shine camp, the PBA declared that there was indeed a foul on the play.
Gregorio said the last play involving West was similar.
“Was there a foul? I thought there was,” Gregorio told InterAKTV. “My question really is consistency in terms of a shooter. If other teams can get that call, why can’t we?”
According to Gregorio, West had to be calmed down inside the Meralco locker room as he was frustrated with the non-call.
“I’m not really putting the blame on anyone, but I’m batting for following the guidelines. This is basically we’re all after. If you mess with a shooter with a potential game winner, you have to call it, the same way Ginebra got it,” added Gregorio.
“Mario was trusting the refs will follow the guidelines. The question is, was there a contact? Mario believes there was. Was it supposed to be called? I believe it should have been.”
But Gregorio said a protest is out of the question, saying the team would just have to move on.
“We can’t reverse the call anymore. We can’t reverse the non-call. We just have to find ways to really increase our chances of winning with us relying on ourselves,” he said.
Gregorio understands the controversy generated by the Ginebra call, with the team’s status as the league’s crowd darlings.
“I believe there’s a strong brouhaha about that last call, especially involving Ginebra. But of course, there will not be a lot of complaints because that’s a very popular team,” said Gregorio.
“So I really felt for Rain or Shine. As for our situation now, it’s just about following the guidelines. I thought I saw a foul during the review.”
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