PBA: Ejected Jireh Ibanes says he respects refs' decision to call flagrant foul

Rain or Shine wingman Jireh Ibanes said he respects the decision of the referees to assess him a flagrant foul penalty two, which led to his ejection in the first half of their game against Meralco on Sunday night.

The Elasto Painter stopper gave a hard foul to Bolts' import Andre Emmett in an attempt to prevent a fastbreak basket with 28 seconds remaining in the second quarter, which was assessed as a flagrant foul penalty two.

Ibanes, who was tasked to guard the Meralco reinforcement in the absence of teammate Gabe Norwood, said he did not intend to hurt Emmett and just wanted to stop the play, but he accepted the referees' call.

"Ayaw naman natin makasakit e. Nobody wants to injure anybody. Basta ang gusto mo lang, clean basketball," he said. "I just wanted to make sure na wala siyang extra basket, and that's it."

"'Yun yung nakita nila, 'yung yung intepretation nila, and I respect it," added the former UP Maroon, who scored 10 points in his 16 minutes on the court.

Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao said he did not think the call should be a flagrant foul penalty two, but Ibanes said he is leaving the decision to the league.

"We'll see. Most likely ipapatawag naman ako ni [Commissioner Chito Salud], then we'll talk about it. Then from there, tingnan natin kung anong mangyayari," he said.

It was the second time in the season that Ibanes was thrown out of a game. Last conference, he was ejected along with Talk 'N Text rookie Matt Ganuelas-Rosser for excessive grabbing and shoving in a rebound play.

"[It's] part of the game, you just learn from it. Next time, maybe I'll just need to be more careful," he said. - RAF, GMA News