Following a foul-plagued outing in the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters’ 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup clash with Columbian last week, Joel Wright vowed to do his best to control his emotions so he can avoid the whistle.
It’s clearly still a work in progress, though, given his performance on Saturday evening.
With 3:50 left in the Elasto Painters’ match with the TNT KaTropa, Wright picked up a flagrant foul penalty one. He’d intentionally tripped KaTropa forward Troy Rosario after their battle for the rebound near the rim.
An F1 call means that Wright had to sit out for three minutes, which left RoS import-less the rest of the game.
Without him on the floor, the KaTropa took full advantage and pulled away to a 103-91 victory.
When asked, the 29-year-old reinforcement said that he got hit in the face during that sequence, which — in his own words — was among the “dirty stuff” he experienced over the course of the game.
“I got a whole hit in my face. He elbowed me in my mouth. That’s dirty. You don’t play like that,” he said. “I saw a lot of dirty stuff going on, but I guess it’s where I’m at. I’m an import so I guess they gotta protect their players here.
“There were a lot of dirty plays that’s going on, and it gets annoying as you play the whole game.”
But replays showed that it was entirely the ball that hit his face. And Rosario said that he never hit Wright.
“‘Di ko naman ano kung tinamaan ko siya. Alam ko ‘di ko rin naman siya tinamaan,” said the 6-foot-7 Rosario.
“Siguro frustration na rin niya yun… Kasi makukuha niya na yung rebound eh, kung hindi ko natapik.”
But at the end of the day, Wright knows that he should do better next time around, so made the same vow again.
“There’s no excuses. I just gotta play better,” said Wright, who left the game with 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals. “I just gotta keep my composure more and I just gotta play better. That’s all.
“I should be out there with my team helping them. I shouldn’t be on the bench in the last three minutes down six.”
