MANILA, 22 November 2007 — Such an ugly way to win, but Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio said he’ll take it any which way it comes.
The Tender Juicy Giants got all the help they could in the crunch after blowing a 19-point lead last night, taking an 87-86 victory over Alaska in a Philippine Cup game that Aces coach Tim Cone said he will put under protest first thing today.
Rommel Adducul found the ball in his hands and made the game-winning short stab at the buzzer as the Giants rebounded from a loss that snapped their seven-game victory and rose to 8-1 overall.
But Adducul’s shot wasn’t the one in question.
Kerby Raymundo flicked a pass to Adducul after seemingly committing a traveling violation while trying to drive past a double team of Sonny Thoss and Reynel Hugnatan.
The play had Raymundo going airborne before running into the outstretched arms of Hugnatan and Thoss. He lost possession with no Alaska player seemingly touching the ball. Raymundo, who muffed two crucial attempts before the last Purefoods play, retrieved the ball and made that pass to Adducul, whose basket sparked a wild celebration on one end of the court and an exasperated reaction on the other.
Earlier, Alaska was also contesting what it felt was a blunder by game officials when they failed to award possession to the Aces after a critical jump ball situation involving Brandon Cablay and the 6-foot-7 Thoss with 6.9 seconds to go and Alaska leading, 86-85.
Cablay, who had his finest offensive performance for the Giants by finishing with 19 points, “rebounded” the ball in the jump after Thoss had leapt a tad early, a clear violation of the rules since a player is only supposed to tap the ball.
“I thought my prayers were answered with that last shot,” Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio said in trying to downplay the seeming violations at end game. “I will take the win no matter how it comes.
“I was closing my eyes and I was praying. Honestly, I didn’t see the play,” Gregorio added, when asked whether he thought Raymundo committed a violation. “ Alaska played a solid defensive game and the ball just landed in the hands of Rommel.
“I had nothing to do with that last play. It was a shot made in heaven.” Cone confronted the referees and technical chief Perry Martinez in the hallway, needing to be restrained by his staff and venue security.
“We worked our asses to win this game,” Cone, shouted at Martinez.
“Everybody in the stadium knew they (referees) blew the call,” a hollering Cone added inside the press room. “I asked them (technical officials) and they said they’ll review the tape. How can they justify that?
“This is absolutely horrible.”
“As far as I can tell, I never touched it (ball) because I know my hands were raised,” Thoss said on the way to his car. “I could not risk having my arms down because I didn’t want to be called for a foul.”
“The Commissioner (OIC Sonny Barrios) and his committee have some reviewing to do,” Alaska owner Wilfred Steven Uytengsu said in a text message to the media. “They have been under fire since these new rules have been adopted. The thing is there was nothing to question, the jump ball should have been awarded to us. “We were penalized for staging a 19-point comeback.”
Dennis Espino split his charities with six-tenths of a second remaining in the second game to lift Sta. Lucia to an 84-83 nail-biter over Welcoat. It was the first time that the Realtors won back-to-back games and it put Sta. Lucia in the company of the Aces at 4-4. The loss denied the Dragons the chance to win three straight games for the first time in franchise history as Joe Devance, the No. 1 pick in the Draft, was held to just four points in 29 minutes.
