SAN Miguel import Devon Scott has no doubt that he was fouled by Scottie Thompson in the final play on Sunday, but emphasized it was not the reason why the Beermen lost to Barangay Ginebra.
The Beermen turned to Scott in the final play of the game after Thompson drained a three-pointer to give the Ginebra the lead for the first time, 97-96, in a thrilling contest at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
[READ: Scottie trey caps thrilling Ginebra comeback vs SMB]
With 4.8 seconds to work with, Scott never got to attack as he was stripped of possession at the post by Thompson, preserving Ginebra's comeback win.
A foul, which would have resulted in free throws for Scott as Ginebra was already in penalty, should have been called by the referees, Scott said.
“Honestly, the last possession, I played a lot of basketball in different places. That’s a foul anywhere else in the world,” said Scott.
“There’s no way in the world of basketball any player can just run through any player to get the basketball and not be a foul,” said Scott.
But Scott quickly clarified that the Beermen should have not been in that situation in the first place as they squandered a 19-point lead to go down to 3-4, ending their two-game winning run.
“Don’t get me wrong. It was our fault that we are in this position. I should have been better down the stretch and made it to where we are not in that position in a back-and-forth game. I should have been better,” said Scott.
"But, that play is a foul. If that same play happens with me, and I do that to him, it's a foul. But the refs didn't see it that way. We didn't get the ball and the game is over, we lost," said Scott.
Scott nearly led SMB to victory with two crucial shots, including the final one that propelled the Beermen to a 96-94 lead only for the Gin Kings to escape with the win.
Scott, the team’s third import this conference, had 26 points and 21 rebounds, but felt that he also let the Beermen down with missed shots from point plank range.
“They made a good run down the stretch. I felt we were playing some good defense but we were turning the ball a little bit and missing some shots, me included. I missed a lot of bunnies right at the rim. But at the end of the day, they did what they were supposed to do. They made their run. They made big shots down the stretch,” said Scott.
Scott is treating the defeat as a learning experience.
"It's a tough loss. But at the end of the day, my mentality is you never lose. You always learn. We learned a lot of lessons today," said Scott.
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