Pumaren decries ‘crucial’ calls in Adamson loss: Refs shouldn’t decide the game

Adamson coach Franz Pumaren. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Adamson head coach Franz Pumaren said the Falcons’ 80-74 loss to defending champion De La Salle in the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament came down to crucial calls.

“We shouldn’t let the referees decide the game,” said Pumaren Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Arguably the biggest controversial call of the game was Papi Sarr getting called with a three-second violation with 49 seconds left in the game with the Soaring Falcons down by only two, 74-72.

What made the call questionable was that official call was a three-second violation while the baseline referee called an offensive foul on Sarr.

“First of all I don’t think that was a three-second violation,” said Pumaren. “That was crucial, the refs made the decision.”

A couple of more plays in the third quarter also left Pumaren bewildered.

The first was Ben Mbala’s block on Sarr which looked to be a goaltend violation, in Pumaren’s eyes and the video replay, and the second was the foul call on Jerie Pingoy as the Adamson point guard wrestled the ball away from Kib Montalbo.

“I don’t want to sound like a sour grape but it showed there were a couple of calls that were questionable.”

With the loss, the Soaring Falcons fell to a 6-4 card but stayed at the third spot in the standings.