Go for Gold Scratchers head coach Charles Tiu did not mince his words over how the officiating had gone in Game One of their 2018 PBA D-League Foundation Cup semifinals versus the Marinerong Pilipino-TIP Engineers, Monday night.
“It’s just frustrating the way they’re calling the games,” he said. “Some are pretty obvious. They let them get away with a lot of hand checks, let them get away with a lot of things… But we’ve been playing basketball for so long.
“You know what you can or can’t do. You can’t be… Kung gusto niyo lang tumawag dun lang kayo tatawag.”
The youthful mentor was seen complaining continuously from the sidelines, and the officials did not take it lightly. He was whistled for two technical fouls inside the game’s final 7:25, leading to his ejection.
But Tiu made it known that he hadn’t said anything towards the referess.
“They called me a T [even if] I did not curse at the ref – the ref who called a technical foul on me was all the way on the other side. He was not even the one who made the foul call. I did not say a word to him,” he explained.
“I just shouted travel. Apparently you can’t shout travel anymore. Mas grabe nga magalit ‘yung kabilang team. Ako natechnical foul pa ‘ko. Why would I wanna get a T, ‘di ba, at that stage of the game? Kalokohan naman ‘yun.”
Tiu said that it was referee Dacx Dacanay who called the technical foul, and the latter did not escape the coach’s wrath. “Si Dacanay tumawag. No wonder he’s not in the PBA anymore. That’s why he’s in the D-League apparently.”
Fortunately, the Scratchers managed to deal with Tiu’s departure and won, 96-87. The victory moves Go For Gold to just one win away from booking a spot in the Finals, where they will face either the CEU Scorpions or the Che’lu Revellers.
“I will admit if I lose because I have principles naman na ganun. I have never blamed the referees for a loss,” said the CSB Blazers head coach. “It’s just frustrating the way they called the game. Yun yung nakakapikon talaga.
“And I think that’s been a problem for a very long time.”
Asked if he has any intentions of raising his concerns to the Commissioner’s Office, Tiu said he does not, claiming practically nothing will happen.
“Alam na nila ‘yun. They watch the tapes naman all the time. Kahit naman ano i-complain mo walang mangyayari ‘pag kausap mo sila eh. Fine. The game’s done, they can do whatever they want. Just play basketball for me,” he said.
“But that’s something they have to fix probably I guess not just here but in the PBA ‘di ba. You see a lot of complains. That’s been a lingering issue. It’s just frustrating to see it happen or to have it experienced on a team you’re coaching.”
