BOCAUE, Bulacan – Allen Durham is not one to raise an issue on officiating. Yet he believed the calls affected Meralco in its 85-74 loss to Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Governors Cup finals at the Philippine Arena.
The Bolts were within striking distance of the Kings during the fourth quarter of Game Five Sunday until the reigning champions went on a 10-1 run to stretch a precarious four-point lead to 84-71 entering the final two minutes.
Durham obviously disagree with some of the calls made against the Bolts, including the fouling out of Chris Newsome in the final 3:09 off Ginebra big man Greg Slaughter.
“I think down the stretch officiating was really bad,” said Durham, who churned out monser numbers anew of 27 points and 19 rebounds for the Bolts.
“I’m not complaining about the officials... but you can’t call a finals (game) like that.”
Meralco was awarded just 13 free throws compared to the 24 of Ginebra.
But Durham said the Bolts also had their faults as they allowed themselves to fall behind by as much as 17 points in the first half, leaving them a bit spent down the stretch after overcoming the deficit in the third quarter.
“It was tough, they placed us in a hole early,” noted the two-time Best Import.
He also lamented that none among the Bolts really got in the scoring act, with sophomore Garvo Lanete the only local to finish in double figures with 11 points.
“I think we have to hit a couple more shots,” said Durham. “We just got to play better. We can’t beat them like that (in the finals.).”
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