Magnolia Pambansang Manok coach Chito Victolero defended his team from being labeled dirty following a pair of incidents that marred their Game 3 win over TNT in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
The Hotshots’ 106-98 victory last Sunday, Oct. 24 was a bit overshadowed after Jackson Corpuz’s foul left Troy Rosario with a pair of injuries and claims of a spitting incident during the heated match.
Victolero said that while Magnolia relishes a physical style of play, he begged to disagree that his team has a penchant for deliberately hurting opponents.
“We play physical, we play hard but we don't play dirty. Malaki ang kaibahan nun,” Victolero said as quoted in a story posted on the PBA’s official site.
Corpuz avoided suspension after his foul on Rosario was upgraded to a Flagrant Foul 2 which resulted in a P20,000 fine.
The Magnolia forward was sprinting back trying to prevent Rosario from scoring. But Corpuz’s momentum resulted in the Tropang Giga big man to land flat on his back and suffer a spinal shock and a dislocated finger.
TNT players didn’t take things kindly, so did a lot of fans who even flooded the comments section of Corpuz’s Instagram account.
Things didn’t end there after Erram took to social media to accuse an unnamed Magnolia player of spitting at him which may have happened after Rosario’s injury since the TNT center was seen in the background trying to be restrained by cooler heads.
But Victolero said after Game 3 that players from both teams remain cordial off the court despite the tensions, especially with TNT and Magnolia staying under one roof at Quest Hotel in Clark.
“We're warriors on the court but paglabas, we're still friends, magkakasama kami, and we don't want it to happen,” he said.