LA Tenorio was still fuming over the officiating an hour after Barangay Ginebra’s campaign in the PBA Philippine Cup came to a disappointing end at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday night.
Usually approachable, the veteran playmaker tried his best to avoid talking about the Game Three loss to Meralco, specifically the referee who whistled Scottie Thompson for his sixth and final foul with Ginebra down by only two.
“Huwag ninyo na ako munang interbiyuhin baka ano lang masabi ko sa officiating,” said Tenorio as he walked out of the Ginebra dugout after the sudden-death game which the Kings lost, 106-104.
[See Meralco survives Ginebra fightback, reaches semis]
“Pero sabihin ninyo sa kanya….,” he added, uttering words that were unprintable.
“Siya nag-decide ng laro,” Tenorio said. “Ang ganda-ganda ng laro, e.”
Text messages sent by SPIN.ph to the league have yet to get a reply as of post time, but it's been its practice for officials to review officiating a day after every game day.
Tenorio’s bone of contention was the charging foul called on Thompson with 10 seconds left in the highly-emotional Game 3 and the Kings trailing by two.
WATCH:
The 38-year-old Ginebra guard was furious on the offensive foul whistled against Thompson as he tried to drive past Meralco’s Cliff Hodge on a fastbreak, confronting referee Peter Balao during a timeout.
Thompson was the Kings’ top scorer with 26 points behind an 8-of-13 shooting from the field, while adding six assists and three steals playing for 43 minutes.
He spearheaded Ginebra’s comeback from 21 points down that paved the way for the dramatic ending, which saw Stanley Pringle miss a step-back jumper with two seconds left that would have sent the game into overtime.
Tenorio finished with 12 points and six assists and was 4-of-6 from deep, the last of which put the Kings within 104-103 with 72 seconds remaining.
It was actually a long day for Tenorio, who was forced to walk to the venue hours before the game after parking his car a few kilometers away from MoA owing to the congested traffic in the area.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
