UNIVERSITY of the East coach Chris Gavina apologized on Thursday with regards to his postgame comments in the fallout of their 111-110 overtime loss to La Salle a day prior.
"I'd like to apologize to the UE community for my profane outburst, but I could no longer restrain myself from the lack of respect we were being shown by the referees," he told UE Dawn, the school's official publication.
“I was just so full pride [in] the effort our players put forth today just so one of their brothers could be removed from the court of play by diving for a loose ball."
READ: Chris Gavina blasts UAAP referees with expletive-filled rant
Gavina cried foul on the officials' decision to slap an unsportsmanlike foul on Wello Lingolingo at the 4:20 mark of the fourth quarter when he dove for the ball in a mad scramble and landed on the right knee of Kean Baclaan.
Already charged with a technical foul, that second whistle led to the ejection of the Red Warriors' team captain who was having a superb 24-point game at that point - and prompted the first-year mentor to say, “I hope these three referees never (expletive) ref again in any of our games," channeling his vitriol onto referees Ralph Moreto, Roselle Ponting, and Jong Banayat.
Lingolingo has since been slapped with a three-game suspension by the Commissioner's Office for his actions.
Gavina the latest in calling for better refereeing
Speaking a day after, Gavina told UE Dawn: "I admit I displayed bad judgement on my part on my lack of professionalism as a head coach in that moment. [I] hope the UE community can accept my deepest apologies for not representing UE the way I should."
What he's not sorry for, though, is speaking up on what he felt were inconsistencies when it came to officiating that he felt led to the Red Warriors' detriment and eventual sixth defeat in as many games in the UAAP Season 88 men's basketball tournament.
"As a coach, I always emphasize to my players that officiating is beyond our control. However, from my perspective, there were instances where the consistency of the calls could have been better, especially during crucial stretches of the game,” he stated.
“I did try to seek some clarification after the final buzzer, but emotions were understandably high on both sides. For me, it’s also about holding those responsible for officiating to the highest standards because UAAP programs and fans deserve that."
Gavina also offered his prayers to Baclaan who suffered an MCL injury from the exchange that led to him being ruled out of the season.
"My prayers also go out to Kean Baclaan and [I] hope he is doing well," he said.
Turning his attention back to his wards, Gavina believes that these adversities will only toughen up the players for their games to come.
“We’ll learn from this and continue to move forward together as a team,” he said.
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