Gilas rues bad officiating in loss to Croatia

SEVILLE, Spain — Jayson Castro is really flopping every now and then to fish a foul in the PBA. Many others do.

But Castro insisted that’s not the case in one fateful play in the Philippines-Croatia game where he was called a technical foul for a supposed “flopping,” and Gilas lost the momentum of a searing charge.

“Sinuwag ako ( He bumped into me),” maintained Castro while having his dinner in the team hotel.

For coach Chot Reyes, that’s the big difference, allowing the Croats to recover from a slide, regroup and go on to squeeze out an 81-78 win in overtime in the opener of Group B competition in the 2014 FIBA World Cup at Centro Deportivo San Pablo here Saturday afternoon.

To the vehement protest of Castro, the refs slapped the Gilas combo guard a “T,” sending Krunoslav Simon to the line to make two gift shots.

Then the Croats made good use of the extra ball possession with Damir Markota draining a buzzerbeating trey in a crucial five-point swing, giving the tall European team a 57-49 cushion at the end of the third period.

The Filipinos, who fought back from a 15point deficit early on, needed to make another charge to get back into the game and nearly pull off a shocker.

The Gilas coach, however, thought it would have been a different story if not for the technical foul assessed Castro towards the end of the third.

“The refs called a technical foul that I couldn’t believe. The refs said Jayson was flopping. The guy is 510 and he’s guarding a 6-5, how can that be a flopping?” said Reyes.