Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo rued the missed calls late in their Game 5 loss to TNT as PBA suspended referee Jeff Tantay who was supposed to make the call on what was deemed a Calvin Oftana foul on CJ Cansino’s layup.

Though not taking anything away from TNT which won the game, 99-96, behind a gritty rally from Rey Nambatac and Jordan Heading, Trillo said there could have been a different outcome if only the referee managed to call the foul.

Meralco was only down by one point, 97-96, when Cansino went for the layup against Oftana with nine seconds remaining

The TNT forward blocked the shot but game replays showed Oftana also hitting the hand of Cansino — a sequence that should have been called a foul, the PBA confirmed.

That same ground merited the suspension of the referee.

“TNT played a hell of a game to come back, all the way down, Rey hitting that big shot, and then getting that steal. So, they also earned it. But when it comes down to that, it's the beauty of a game, you've got to make the right call,” said Trillo.

“We want to show we're fighting. ... It's not about sister teams. We want to show we want to win till the end. We've got to make the right call. A non call is not the right call,” he added.

The loss wasted the big night from Cansino who was on fire in the fourth quarter, firing 17 of his career-high 36 points. 

But Meralco fumbled a comfortable 96-91 lead in the last 30 seconds after allowing Nambatac to easily nail a four-pointer and Heading to steal the ball away from Cansino for an uncontested layup to take the one point lead.

Still, the missed fouls proved to be too costly for Meralco, which now has nothing but to move on from the semis exit.