San Sebastian coach Egay Macaraya. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—San Sebastian coach Egay Macaraya expressed his displeasure over the officiating after he got tossed in the Stags’ crucial clash with College of St. Benilde on Tuesday.
Macaraya picked up two technical fouls and was ejected in the second quarter after requesting a review of a play where Benilde’s Carlo Lim was fouled above the head with four seconds remaining before halftime.
“It’s frustrating what happened. I want to clear my side, this is the second time the referees were wrong with the ruling in the coach’s challenge. They have guidelines and when we played crucially against San Beda, we made a challenge within eight seconds so we called for a challenge and they said it was not allowed, much like today,” said Macaraya, who suffered a double whammy after the Stags went on to lose, 83-78, shutting the door on their Final Four hopes.
In that game against San Beda last November 6, San Sebastian also lost a close one, 82-79.
Macaraya said he intends to file a formal complaint against the referees even though his team is already out of contention.
“For us, we want to file a complaint, but then again the game is done. Whoever apologizes, I don’t care,” said Macaraya.
“Mancom (NCAA management committee) said, if ever we have complaints, we have to file a formal complaint. This is the second time so we may have to file because we have evidence,” he added.
Despite San Sebastian’s failure to make the Final Four, Macaraya found a silver lining in the emergence of rookie Rhinwil Yambing.
“This is not a miracle but Yambing has so much potential. I’ve seen him play and he’s just extraordinary. We saw that and I know he still has to mature and gain some weight,” he said.
Yambing unleashed a season-high 36 points built on 11 triples on Friday in a 92-74 win over Jose Rizal University.
The forward, however, only played four minutes and 30 seconds against CSB after he left the game early with a cut above his right eye. He is questionable for the Golden Stags’ remaining three games.