Mark Dickel was clearly disappointed with the result of the TNT Katropa’s double-overtime Game Two heartbreaker at the hands of the San Miguel Beermen, Wednesday evening.
It wasn’t because of the officiating, though.
“We just gotta make free throws at the end of the game,” admitted TNT active consultant Mark Dickel. The Katropa went just 13-of-24 from the foul stripe – including missing five free throws in the two overtimes.
“It doesn’t matter what the refs do. We’d still win the game.”
There were plenty of 50-50 calls that went against TNT in the game.
With 21.0 seconds left in the first overtime and TNT up by three, Chris Ross fouled Terrence Jones to stop the clock. Jones was caught swinging his forearm, which decked Ross.
It resulted in Jones’ second technical foul and his ejection.
“Yeah, that was interesting. But I just don’t see why there was a second motion foul on Terrence when he got hit twice before that. It’s almost very interesting that call,” opined the former New Zealand national team member regarding the loss of his import.
Jones still finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, five steals, and three blocks.
“But look – ultimately, we’d still control the destiny if we would’ve made our free throws in the end.”
Then there was Troy Rosario’s sixth foul with 1:15 left in the game. Based on the replays, it was Yousef Taha who fouled June Mar Fajardo, but it was Rosario who incurred the foul.
For Dickel, San Miguel played a good game. The KaTropa simply cost themselves a 125-127 defeat.
“Look, it doesn’t do anything good to worry about that,” continued Dickel.
“‘Cause every time you bring that up, you lessen the fact that San Miguel played a good game and they played a good game.”
With just one day to prepare, Dickel and his staff look to fix what was broken in their Game Two outing.
“I’d just rather focus on the stuff we could control. And what we can control is coming out and playing another good game on Friday.”
