A PBA official admitted that a referee made a mistake that led to a confusing end-game between Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beermen in the PBA Philippine Cup on Sunday night.
Chris Ross, the hard working yet sometimes over passionate guard of the Beermen, was called for a technical foul in the dying seconds of the game for deliberately replacing designated free throw shooter Chico Lanete who got fouled.
Ross had already made one free throw before referees realized that he should not be the one taking the shots. In the replay, it was also revealed that referee Noy Guevarra gave him the ball.
“To be honest, mayroon rin siguro kaming fault doon, sa referees namin,” PBA technical head Eric Castro said.
But Castro added that Ross deserved the technical nevertheless.
“Pero the players know kung sino ang shooter talaga,” he said.
“What happened there, siguro nakita niyo sa replay, our referee was trying to give the ball to Lanete then Chris Ross, siya yung nagpunta sa free throw. We had a rule regarding this, a rule which we changed last December.”
In the past, players who tried to deceive officials were just given a warning.
“We had an experience before that some of the players, kapag mahinang free throw shooter yung teammate nila, pupuwesto sila to take their place. So, we countered that,” he said.
Castro added that if the referee was proven to have made a blunder, a possible sanction would be slapped against him.
