MANILA, Philippines—Phoenix head coach Louie Alas was left puzzled over the non-call on San Miguel Beer’s Alex Cabagnot during a scuffle late in the second quarter of Game 4 of their Philippine Cup semifinals series Tuesday night.
Cabagnot made a fool out of the referees, who inexplicably missed the Beermen playmaker’s low blow punch on Fuel Masters guard RJ Jazul in the groin that instigated the heated commotion between players from opposing teams.
Jazul’s teammate Alex Mallari pushed Cabagnot after the punching incident then exchanged words with San Miguel’s Matt Ganuelas-Rosser.
READ: Scuffle breaks out anew between Phoenix, San Miguel
“I don’t what tape the officials were watching. We saw RJ was punched. I was in front of it and he was really punched. I have no idea what was being replayed there. I really don’t know,” Alas told reporters in Filipino after his team’s 114-91 loss at Cuneta Astrodome.
Phoenix ended up suffering a double whammy following the officials’ video review of the sequence with Mallari getting tossed after getting called for two technical fouls—one for second motion and the other for verbal altercation.
A technical was also given to Ganuelas-Rosser for the verbal spat with Mallari while no call was made against Cabagnot.
READ: Terrence Romeo stars as San Miguel blows out Phoenix, nears finals
“That was a closed fist right in front of the ref and what’s worse is that we’re the ones who lost a guard and the one who punched remained on the court,” Alas said.
Jazul also expressed his displeasure over the non-call.
“I don’t know why there was not a single call on it. But of course, I’m not a referee and it’s their call. I just don’t know why it turned out to be that way. No matter how many times you replay it, there was an act of punching,” Jazul said in Filipino after scoring nine points. “That’s just unfair. Not even a technical wasn’t called.”
Cabagnot finished with 18 points, three assists and a steal for the Beermen, who were led by Terrence Romeo’s game-high 20 points.
San Miguel, the reigning four-time Philippine Cup champion, moved a win away from returning to the all-Filipino finals.