Jireh Ibañes of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters was ejected in the first half of their encounter against the Meralco Bolts, last Sunday, after a hard foul on Andre Emmett in transition that stopped a fastbreak attempt.
The officials later ruled the foul as a flagrant penalty 2, causing Ibañes to be thrown out.
The Rain or Shine guard later on clarified that, while he is disappointed, he respects the decision of the referees.
“Well, ‘yun ang interpretation nila, and I respect that,” he said. “Next time perhaps I will show that I am only trying to stop the player from shooting the extra basket. Wala akong ibang intention. It’s just sad na ‘yun ang nakita nila, but I respect it so we will see.”
Ibañes finished with 10 points in 16 minutes prior to the ejection. He added he was only doing his role as a defensive stopper and did not want to give up an easy basket.
“Yun yung role namin, and gusto ko mangyari sa play na ‘yun because they were up and I don’t want an extra basket,” he said. “Yun ang role ko eh, tumulong sa defense. It’s just sad I got thrown out, so next time maybe I should be more careful.”
Ibanes concluded by saying he has no personal intentions and leaves it to the authority if he will be penalized.
“Ayaw naman natin makasakit. Gusto natin clean basketball. I don’t take things personally. It’s part of the game,” he shared.
“I don’t know. Most likely ipapatawag naman ako then from there tingnan natin anong mangyayari.”
