Matthew Wright was supposed to be elated after the Phoenix Fuel Masters’ 135-108 whitewashing of the GlobalPort Batang Pier on Wednesday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, which ended their four-game losing skid.
But he was not.
The 27-year-old was totally disgusted with the way the whistles had been blown. He had been an unfortunate casualty, as he was slapped with a technical foul for using profane language with 3:26 left in the second quarter.
Wright was assessed with the call after he went on a rage and charged towards the referee. What the Filipino-Canadian was pointing out was the clothesline-like hit he suffered on the head from import Malcolm White after committing a turnover.
White hadn’t been called for that.
“That’s terrible,” rued Wright, who had 24 points spiked by six three-pointers in the win – a statement victory for the Fuel Masters as this was their first game without Jeff Chan, whom they had traded to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel last Monday.
“I can’t explain how mad I am because Malcolm has done that. He’s done that in this league to Chris Tiu. I’ve seen him knock his tooth out, I’ve seen him hit Renaldo Balkman [on] the head,” he added, recalling what White had done before.
White isn’t new to being blamed in cases like this. His most known involvement was back in May 20, when he inadvertently hit Rain or Shine Elasto Painters’ Tiu in the mouth, which led to the latter spewing blood.
Now, after what had transpired and after what he had suffered, Wright is calling for better officiating in games.
“The league has got to do something because the referee-ing is horrible. That’s awful. You can’t just swing at somebody’s head like that and I’m the one who gets punished for that,” said the sophomore wingman.
“They gotta get their [expletive] together.”
