[frezer11]

I wonder what the foul count was at the end of the 4th quarter? If it was something like 2-2, where they knew they weren't close to bonus, the foul count could potentially have been reset by the scoreboard operator (Or possibly by both that person and the official book who had misinterpreted the rule), without the officials knowledge, similar to how they would reset it after the 3rd quarter (I think it's technically periods, am I right on that?) without specifically asking. Not an excuse for the officials not eventually correcting, but in this type of scenario, I can at least understand how the OT could have been started and played for a while without being noticed. While the article says that the officials cleared the foul count, I don't know if they specifically did that, seems like a pretty easy and obvious rule to get wrong.

Another possibility is to considerer the gym. Montana State has an older overhead scoreboard that is comparatively difficult to interpret where the team fouls are at. The scoreboards behind the baselines do not display team fouls, only time and team score. If the foul count was something low, such as 2-2, They may not stop to look up at the big scoreboard if they knew they weren't close to bonus. (Okay, I admit, the gym explanation is a stretch...)