Houston Rockets star Alperen Sengun was thrown out of a game in a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics earlier this week after repeatedly calling a female referee “a b—–.” The moment went viral in the days after the game, when enhanced audio made his remarks audibly clear.
“That was immature by me,” Sengun said after Houston’s 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday in his first comments addressing the incident publicly, according to ESPN. “That was just in the moment, and I said some stuff I shouldn’t say, but I felt bad about it.”
Houston was down by 25 points at the time of Sengun’s ejection, and he took ownership of taking his frustrations out on frustrations on Jenna Reneau, who is in her first season as an NBA staff official.
“Sometimes, you can’t control yourself, but I should have known better,” Sengun said. “But I fixed it, and then I went to the locker room, and I apologized.
“I shake [her] hand and said that would never happen again. It just happened in the heat of the moment. Then, she understood, and it was good on both ends.”
Sengun notched a triple-double in Saturday’s win with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, but made sure to take accountability for what transpired with Renau.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.