JOSHUA Munzon was quick to move from the costly foul that he committed in Titan Ultra’s previous game against Rain or Shine that became the talk of the town for the wrong reasons.
With Titan Ultra protecting a three-point lead, Munzon reached in to Anton Asistio while taking a four-point shot, forcing the referees to call a foul against last season’s Most Improved Player.
Referees awarded Asistio four free throws on the play as they deemed that he was in the act of shooting. Asistio calmly sank all freebies and Rain or Shine eventually held on to the 112-111 win.
READ: Titan Ultra finally fixes defensive hole to smother Blackwater
Munzon admitted he felt like Asistio was not in the act of shooting when he fouled him, but at the same time, didn’t dwell too much on the call.
“In my opinion, the foul was on the floor,” said Munzon on Wednesday. “I mean, I watched games all throughout the week, NBA games, same thing happened. The foul was on the floor. But that’s just my opinion. That’s just what I saw when I watched it. So it is what it is.”
“The call didn’t go our way and it’s part of the game. It’s part of basketball,” he added.
Munzon said there were still a lot of opportunities for Titan Ultra to get back with still six games to play after the Rain or Shine contest..
“I mean, I have no choice (move on). I’m not going to harp about one game. We’ve got a lot of games moving forward. It is what it is. We can’t go back and change anything. All we can do is be confident and try and win these games we’ve got coming up.”
The numbers showed that Munzon has moved on from the unfortunate incident after he had 18 points, two rebounds, three assists, and two steals in Titan Ultra’s game against Blackwater on Wednesday.
More importantly, the Giant Risers won, ending a four-game losing skid.
“It’s part of the game. Not everything is going to go your way. Mistakes happen within the game. Mistakes happen at the beginning of the game, the same way they happen at the end of the game. So it’s just about correcting those mistakes and getting better moving forward,” said Munzon.
Titan Ultra was able to regroup after the loss as the team had a small get-together before taking a brief break and returning to practice on November 2 to prepare for the Blackwater game.
“Sabi ko sa kanila, nangyayari talaga ‘yan,” said Titan Ultra coach John Cardel. “Ilang beses na nangyari sa akin ‘yan. Instead of pagalitan ko sila, sabi ko na it’s part of maging isang team kami. Dadaan talaga sa ganyan. We will learn from that mistake na wag mangyari uli. Kung ano ‘yung nangyaring ‘yun, wag na natin gawin uli. Importante talaga ‘yung game plan, and sumunod naman sila.”
Cardel said Munzon should not be judged by that incident as he has done a lot for Titan Ultra.
“Malaki ang inimprove niya. He is part of NorthPort pa dati and then going to Titan. Sinabihan ko siya na one of the core ka rito, Calvin, Fran, mga beterano dito. Kayo ang magdadala," he continued.
“And that moment na nagkikita kami, nag-small party kami, kinausap naman niya ako na inaamin din naman niya sa sarili niya ‘yung pagkakamali niya. He sent me a video what happened in the NBA. Same scenario. Sabi ko naman siya, forget it, we learn from that mistake."
The win was a much-needed tonic as they go into their next game against Barangay Ginebra on Sunday with momentum instead of being on a losing spell.
“Magandang simula para sa amin ‘yun,” said Cardel.
“Anytime we can win a game, you always feel good winning any game,” Munzon said. “We were happy we got this win and finally got off that losing streak. We’re ready to, look forward to these next games that we have coming up.”
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