Guiao: 'The refs decided the game'

MANILA, Philippines –   â€œThe refs decided the ballgame.”

Coach Yeng Guiao was in a foul mood after his Rain or Shine Elasto Painters absorbed a stinging 101-100 loss to crowd favorite Brgy. Ginebra Kings Saturday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Even team owners Raymund Yu and Terry Que were fuming mad after the game that they immediately declared that they will file a protest to contest the foul call made by senior referee Nol Quilingen on Rain or Shine center Beau Belga against Ginebra’s Mac Baracael.   

“We’ll write the commissioner a letter,” Yu told media reporters after the loss that brought Rain or Shine down in the standings with a 4-4 record. “We’ll put the game under protest.”

The controversial call with only three-tenths of a second left allowed Baracael to shoot three free throws which he all calmly sank to give the Kings’ the one-point escape win.

After a lengthy discussion with the team management in the locker room, Guiao appeared in the press room and lashed out at the officials.

“We felt we were robbed of a win,” Guiao said. “We’ll file a protest for whatever is worth.”

The Painters are expected to put it into writing before the 12 noon deadline of the league and after paying a Php 20,000 cash bond.

“It was an obvious no-foul. We felt that referee Quilingen does not deserve to officiate in this league,” Guiao added.

Guiao said that the bad decision of Quilingen turned like a domino.

“Yung oras ang tingin rin namin mga more than a second pa, pero binigyan kami, 0.3 na lang. That only happened because of the bad decision of the referee. Consequence lang yun nung original na maling tawag, so pwede ring isama,” Guiao said.

“Kasi tinawag niya nung nasa kamay na ni AZ (Reid) yung bola saka siya tumawag ng foul eh. Kumbaga masyadong delayed. When the action happened, he should have called it right away. Kaso hinintay muna kung papasok dahil kung papasok siguro yun, hindi niya tatawagan. Nung hindi pumasok  at nasa kamay na namin ang bola, saka siya tumawag,” Guiao added.

The mercurial coach said the controversial call was just one of the few lapses in the officiating in last night’s game.  

“Pero I think it’s not only that call actually. During the game, meron pang mga ibang tawag, syempre. Pero it (the controversial foul) was more emphasized. You have your own opinion siguro, but I’m confident most people would say it should not be called a foul at that point. So, the refs decided the ballgame.”