No flopping – I was fouled, says Castro

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 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 buzzer-beating 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 15-point 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 5-10 and he’s guarding a 6-5, how can that be a flopping?” said Reyes.

“That’s the difference. If not for that technical foul, we could have won the game. The game wouldn’t have gone into overtime,” Reyes pointed out. “The refs called a technical, Croatia made the free throws then made a trey at the buzzer. That’s five points and that’s the difference in the game.”

“It’s not a flop. That’s really a foul (on the part of the Croat). Hanggang ngayon ramdam ng dibdib ko na sinuwag ako,” said Castro.