Petra Cement-Roxas climbed all the way back from 18 points down and frustrated fifth seed Zamboanga City in overtime, 91-84, to take Game One of the best-of-three semifinals phase two of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup.
Literally frustrated.
Moments after the buzzer sounded and the Vanguards were victorious, a commotion not caught in camera ensued.
JPS players Gabby Espinas and Kyle Neypes among others rushed to the referees, arguing some missed and bad calls.
Espinas was caught in the broadcast shortly pointing a finger to a referee.
Neypes was also seen motioning a stirring the pot gesture, just like one of those James Harden celebrations. Obviously, that gesture means different in the Filipino lingo.
Eventually, cooler heads prevailed as the other referees in attendance who did not work the game was able to pacify the situation.
Frustrations started mounting for JPS in the third quarter when they saw their once 18-point lead chopped down little by little.
The Vanguards were more aggressive in the second half than in the first, as showed at the time where Zamboanga went into penalty per quarter.
In the first and second frames, JPS reached five fouls at the 2:30 and 2:41 marks, respectively.
However, in the third and fourth periods, they reached penalty at the 4:44 and 6:11 marks, resulting in 24 free throw attempts for Roxas.
It also didn’t help that one of Zamboanga’s dependable big man in Jerwin Gaco fouled out of the game with still 4:08 to go in the fourth quarter.
Another instance that the whole JPS bench was visibly frustrated with the referees was in their final shot that could have given them the win.
With 19.7 ticks left in the fourth, Fran Yu got the inbound and wasted a few seconds before driving to the basket, where Jordan Sta. Ana and Lester Reyes met him to deny Yu a game-winner.
After the buzzer sounded signaling overtime, Espinas and Yu were seen shaking their heads in disbelief.
Also shown in the broadcast was JPS head coach Tony Pardo begging the referees for a foul, pointing the spot on the court where Yu fell after his shot attempt.
The league, headed by basketball operations chief Chelito Caro, is already investigating the matter as of publishing.
