Breaking down controversial ending between Boise State and CSU

You'll never see an ending of a college basketball game more confusing than what happened between Boise State and CSU on Wednesday.

With the game tied at 84-84, Colorado State University senior guard Antwan Scott attempted a 3-pointer that was off the mark, the rebound caromed toward midcourt and as Rams' junior John Gillon was called for a backcourt violation with 0.8 seconds remaining in the first overtime while he tried to go for the loose ball.

By rule, 0.4 seconds or more are required to be on the clock to get off a catch-and-shoot (anything less must be a tip-in); so the Broncos had plenty of time to get a shot off, and it looked like they did and should have won the game.

MOUNTAIN WEST: Refs made right call in Boise State, CSU game

Boise State's Anthony Drmic threw the ball in to James Webb III, who took one step, turned and heaved an off-balanced 3-pointer that banked in and appeared to have given the Broncos' the win. Video replay (you can see above) shows the ball is out of Webb's hands with 0.4 seconds showing, but the game wasn't over.

The officiating crew of Tom O'Neill, Verne Harris and Dave Hall went to the monitor to make sure the clock started on time. I asked O'Niell what the ruling was, and he said they timed the play with a stopwatch and determined it took 1.4 seconds. The game went to a second overtime, where the Rams won 97-93.

"I've never seen anything like it. I don’t think we can just make up timing rules,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “Hopefully the (Mountain West) conference can explain it to me, because I guess I’m ignorant to what you can do and what you can’t do. They don’t hand time things in the Olympics anymore."

Here's the statement from Hall, who said the crew followed protocol.

“The protocol on any last-second shot, after the shot is made, you go to the monitor to review whether the shot was taken in time or not.  We followed the protocol, we went to the monitor and we reviewed whether the shot was taken in the 0.8 seconds that was on the game clock when the ball was inbounded. We did that and we noticed that the game clock was not started upon touch. We then used a stopwatch overlay from the monitor review system to determine when he touched it and then figure out how many tenths of a second it took from the time he touched the ball until the time he released the ball and whether he was able to get that shot off in that 0.8 seconds. After reviewing that several times we determined that the shot was late. It was not taken in that 0.8-second time frame, but actually closer to 1.2 or 1.3 time frame. As a result, the basket does not count.”

Human error is always going to come into account when operating a clock in basketball. The clock operator has to flip a switch when the ball first touches a player, and that could throw things off by a tenth of a second or two. But by eight tenths? That seems like a little much, and according to a breakdown ESPN did, it took 0.7 seconds for Webb to get the ball out of his hands, which would have been in time.

Even CSU coach Larry Eustachy said, at first, he thought the Rams had lost and was ready to walk his team off the court.

"I knew when it banks and the clock went off, it had to take longer than .8 seconds, but I thought we lost. That's the bottom line," Eustachy said. "I said, 'Here we go, the same old story against Boise.' And I was waiting for the refs to just run off; the game is over. It took a lot of courage to figure out the right call, and clearly when he got it to when he got it off, it took 1.3 seconds."

It's hard to understand how this was the right call, and for the Mountain West it marks the second controversial ending in the past week. Saturday at San Diego State, New Mexico was likely cost a victory because of an incorrect call made by officials.

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The Lobos led 66-63 with 12.9 seconds remaining. After a made basket by the Aztecs, New Mexico's Cullen Neal couldn't find anyone open to inbound the ball to, so he threw down the baseline to Xavier Adams (a legal play), but Adams was ruled to have no established position out of bounds before taking the pass, resulting in a turnover. San Diego State then threw the ball in and Malik Pope hit a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime. The Aztecs won 78-71.

Later that day, the Mountain West put out a statement saying it was the incorrect call and that Adams had established himself out of bounds before catching Neal's pass.

If you're a CSU fan, you're elated. If you're anyone else, you're left wondering what just happened.

For insight and analysis of athletics around Northern Colorado and the Mountain West, follow sports columnist Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.