Kris Rosales was left surprised by the referees’ decision to downgrade the call on Alec Stockton as the two got heated during Game 3 of the PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinal series between San Miguel and Converge on Monday.
The FiberXers guard was assessed with a flagrant foul penalty two after reviews showed that he elbowed his Beermen counterpart to the face after the guards got into a physical battle in the dying seconds of the first quarter.
Play was stopped with sixth-tenths of a second left and they had to be separated as Rosales clearly didn’t like the hit and wanted to let it be known.
Cooler heads did prevail but confusion clouded the Ninoy Aquino Stadium shortly after, especially over at the SMB side when the refs changed their call.
From an F2 infraction, Stockton was instead given an F1, which kept him from being tossed out, and was only forced to sit out for three minutes.
Making matters worse for the Beermen was that the FEU product nailed the game-winner at the buzzer to lift his side to a 114-112 victory, completing a gargantuan comeback after trailing by as many as 27 points.
“It’s kind of shocking. I don’t know,” said Rosales moments after the loss, which foiled their bid of sweeping Converge for a quicker trip to the semis.
The 33-year-old gunslinger could only speculate, although he and the rest of the team just accepted what the referees came up with after their review.
“What we both did was even, I guess?” said Rosales as he was called for an F1 for that incident. “If that’s what they’re saying. If that’s the case, then that’s their choice. We live with it. We move on. We focus on Game 4 on Friday.”
Ultimately, he downplayed what happened, saying that it was all just brought by the heat of the moment between one competitor to another.
“Heat of the game, I got hit. If you get hit in the face, what are you gonna do,” said Rosales, who finished with six points, three rebounds, and three assists.
“Nothing really complicated, he just hit me in the jaw, so I reacted. Nothing crazy. I know he’s a competitor, I’m a competitor. Heat of the moment. Playoffs, you know. A lot of money is on the line. So, yeah, that was it.”
PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial, though, didn’t take the situation lightly as he suspended some of the referees who worked the SMB-Converge game due to the miscommunication that happened among the game officials.
This means that the league may become shorthanded on referees in the coming games after Rey Yante was suspended for missing to call the goaltending on Jhonard Clarito late in Game 3 of the Rain or Shine-Magnolia series Sunday.
