A girls' high school basketball game ended in confusion and controversy after the three referees ran off the court following a highly contested decision at the end of the game.
With a place in the state championships at stake, Celina trailed Argyle by just one point with 4.8 seconds left in the Texas 3A Girls' Region II final, when the bizarre incident took place.
Celina's Kynese Davis ran up the court and heaved a final three-point shot, but was grabbed by an opponent and fell to the court.
The whistle blew for what many, including both groups of players, believed was a foul — meaning Celina would have three free shots and an easy chance to win.
But as the Argyle players appeared to prepare for defeat, the three referees ran off to the side of the court and signaled the end of the game, much to the outrage of Celina players, coaches and fans.
At the end of the game Celina principal Bill Hemby asked for an explanation but the referees refused to comment to a tournament representative, leaving coaches unable to explain exactly what had just happened, reported WFAA.com.
Video from the game suggests the referee puts his arm up for a foul, while the footage shows time was not up on the clock.
School officials complained to the University Interscholastic League (UIL) and asked for the opportunity to shoot the three free throws.
The UIL however has said a protest based on the referee's decision "will not be considered."
A UIL spokesman later said: "The call made by the officials at the end of the Argyle vs Celina girls basketball 3A regional championship final was a judgment call.
That explanation wasn't good enough for his dejected team, said Celina coach Jordan Davis.
"To walk into that locker room and not be able to give them an explanation of what happened and some type of closure, that's probably one of the hardest things I've ever done," he said.
How did Arglle do in the playoffs
ReplyDeleteHappened to my daughter one time in a similar fashion. After being down at the half by 24 points they rallied and put up the winning shot at the buzzer. The other teams Homecoming game was ruined until the refs waved off the winning goal. My kid's team got the win in OT but the refs did the run off court and out the door. Sometimes we see that people are human and can get under your skin by accident,
ReplyDeleteTHE REFEREE WAS SIGNALING A 3 POINT SHOT ATTEMPT.....NOT A FOUL!!!!
ReplyDeleteLOOK CLOSER......THE HAND IN WHICH HE PUTS HIS ARM UP IN THE AIR IS OPEN SIGNALING A 3 POINT SHOT ATTEMPT.
PEOPLE ALWAYS WANNA STIR THE POT LOOKING FOR CONTROVERSY.
That looked like a good no-call to me. The defender got her hand on the ball first and the shooter fell because of the way she lunged forward. I can't believe this is getting any national attention.
ReplyDeleteThat is not the signal for a 3 point attempt. It was no signal. I think the ref was confused by the situation.
ReplyDeletein high school basketball the governing body NHFS only allows officials to go by the horn and not the lights. as you may have noticed there was no horn, it would be helpful to see a clock superimposed on the video...the reason being is at the high school level the lights horn and clock can sometimes be not in sync...so horn is first protocol and then visibile clock vs whistle is next protocol ,,,since the was no horn there must have been visible acknowledgment that clock ran out before whistle,,,however I do think officials should have gotten together as a team with table and determined if it was agreed clock zero ed out before whistle,,officials probably could have done better to confirm before departing,,,, most officials at this level are taught to leave court immediately after horn blows but since it was such a close game there should have been a quick conference at table before leaving,,,in any event foul was questionable in the first place and we dont have all the facts based on the video itself,,,,
ReplyDeleteThis is the most horrible injustice to these girls as possible by an officiating crew, which I believe got to officiate because of the "good ole boy" system.
ReplyDelete