MERALCO coach Luigi Trillo pointed out a handful of what he felt were questionable calls, none bigger than a crucial loose-ball foul on Chris Newsome late in overtime of the Bolts' 100-98 loss to TNT in the PBA 50th Season Philippine Cup, Wednesday night in Antipolo.

READ: TNT denies Meralco in overtime on Nambatac's game-winner

With the game tied at 98, Newsome drove from the left wing and took a midrange stepback jumper over Roger Pogoy that missed with 25 seconds left.

Adding insult to injury, Newsome was called for a foul for a kick while Pogoy was challenging the shot.

That set the stage for Rey Nambatac’s game-winner on the other end.

Before that, the Meralco coaching staff challenged the call on Newsome, insisting the star guard, even before the alleged kick, was fouled not just once – but thrice on that play.

First: Pogoy was seen grabbing Newsome’s jersey while executing his stepback.

Secondly: the Trillo felt the TNT wingman clipped Newsome on his shooting hand while taking the shot.

And lastly, he believed Pogoy committed a landing-spot foul on Newsome’s way down.

Trillo even questioned the kick, saying it was natural motion on the way down from a shot.

“The rules are simple: you grab a shirt, it’s a foul,” Trillo began, as he spoke the morning after the loss. “You crowd any part of the arm and there’s a little touch, it’s a foul.”

“With New’s pound dribble and then fell out, normally, you can’t shoot that shot straight. You have to kick a bit. It’s different if a guy’s coming laterally to you and you extend your hand out. This is to get some flow. When you jump backward, normally your feet will lean forward. But how can your feet even lean when the guy’s crowding you? That’s space,” he added.

The Bolts coach’s challenge, however, was unsuccessful.

Trillo said they’ve elevated the case to the Commissioner’s Office and the technical committee.

“It’s not for us to decide. Hopefully, they can review it,” he said. “We have to hold the referees to a higher standard if we want officiating to continue to improve. We don’t just want to improve our quality of play with our players and us coaches coaching lang.”

“The referees need to be held accountable din with a missed call like that,” he added.

Trillo gives credit to TNT

Trillo, though, is not taking anything away from the Tropang 5G’s efforts, admitting Meralco collapsed after building a 23-point lead, as they wound up suffering back-to-back losses to fall to 3-4 and into the seventh spot.

“We had our faults,” Trillo said. “We had 22 turnovers. Nung third quarter, we gave a six, seven-point swing in less than a minute, an offensive rebound in the end. We missed free throws and they made theirs. But we fought enough na it could’ve gone either way.

“Kahit sister teams kami, we both play with honor and go all-out when we’re up against each other. We owe that to our fans and our organizations. You saw how close our games were against NLEX last week and TNT yesterday. But in this game, that missed call on Chris Newsome was a game-changing call that decided the outcome of the game,” he concluded.

Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph