Chris Ross was the last person inside the dressing room of the San Miguel Beermen, allowing the deafening silence for him to cool down – being the most frustrated person of an emotionally-charged encounter.
An hour earlier, Ross was upset over a call in the Beermen’s 107-99 loss to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel at the Mall of Asia Arena when he was whistled for a foul against a driving Justin Brownlee with less than two minutes to play.
The Beermen were trailing 95-90, hoping to cut the deficit further after being down for most of the game when a turnover triggered Brownlee to go for a fastbreak layup. Awaiting the Ginebra import was Ross, who jumped as high as he could in hopes of making a stop.
Referee Jimmy Mariano blew his whistle and gave Ross his only foul of the game. Ross argued that Brownlee should have been called for an offensive foul for warding off, with the video replay appearing to support his argument.
However, Mariano gave Ross a technical foul, causing the Beermen guard to blow his top and appeared to have shouted unprintable words at the official. LA Tenorio converted a technical foul before Brownlee made both free throws, virtually allowing Ginebra to pull off an escape act.
Ross was eventually greeted by reporters upon emerging from the room. Not even his already calm and collected mood prevented him from continuing to argue his case.
“What do you all think?” said Ross, returning a question from one of the reporters who asked if an offensive foul should have been called. “(The) ref made a call, gave me a technical, all I said was I thought it was an offensive foul, gave me a technical, gave (Ginebra) free throws. It was a one possession game at the time and I felt like we were getting the momentum.
“I mean, the refs can only do so much, it’s fast-paced. I guess they can go back and watch film, and correct it but it was tough for us because we were getting into our groove, instead of us getting the ball down one possession they had the ball, they go up two possessions.
