This just in from my local fish wrap, enjoy!

MOUNT PLEASANT — Alan Magnani took a walk down the hallway inside Ruble Arena and tried to compose himself.

Tears filled his eyes and the emotions of anger and sadness filled his voice.

"It's not fair," the Iowa Wesleyan College men's basketball coach said to no one in particular. "It's not fair."

The arena was quiet 30 minutes after the Tigers played Mount Mercy College in the semifinals of the Midwest Classic Conference tournament, but Magnani's angry words cut through the silence.

Magnani remembered the earlier noise inside the arena, when Nic Wilson's running shot with 2.2 seconds left in the game went through the net to give IWC a one–point lead. He remembered the whistle blowing, the foul being called on Mount Mercy's Marques Braithwaite. He remembered seeing his players celebrating near the bleachers, and some Iowa Wesleyan students coming out of the crowd to join in the jubilation with their friends and classmates.

Moments later, Magnani heard the words he couldn't believe.

"We have to do this."

The three game officials huddled near midcourt, then approached Magnani and Mount Mercy coach Paul Gavin. One of the officials looked toward the scorer's table and made a "T" signal with his hands.

Technical foul on Iowa Wesleyan for fans being on the court.

The next few seconds would be burning in Magnani's mind long after the game was over. Mount Mercy guard Mike Wehr buried his two free throws for the technical, then Wilson missed his for the foul.

Game over, season over for IWC, a bitter 74–73 loss to the Mustangs Sunday afternoon.

"You're supposed to let the players decide the game," Magnani said in the quiet hallway. "You're supposed to give discretion on calls, and then with 2.2 seconds left they decide to go by exactly the letter of the law."

"It's a bad feeling," Wilson said. "A really bad feeling."

Gavin and Magnani, friends off the court, hugged in the hallway moments after the game.

"That's one of my best friends," Gavin said, nodding toward Magnani as he headed to a somber locker room. "You hate to have a game end that way. I've got mixed feelings."

Mount Mercy (17–12), the third seed in the tournament, will play at top seed St. Ambrose Tuesday night in the conference championship. The winner earns an automatic bid into the NAIA Division II national tournament.

Wehr and Wilson scored all of the points in the final, frantic, 21.7 seconds.

Wilson's leaning 15–foot shot gave the Tigers a 71–70 lead. Fourteen seconds later, Wehr drove to the basket and made contact with IWC's Jerome Edwards, who was called for a blocking foul and fouled out of the game.

"They used their discretion there," Magnani said of the officials. "They should have called a charge on Wehr and they call a block on Edwards."

Wehr hit both free throws to put Mount Mercy back on top. IWC (19–13) called a timeout, and it was clear who was going to get the ball — Wilson, the MCC's player of the year who finished this game with 26 points.

Wilson drove the left side of the court, then put up a shot as Braithwaite fouled him. The whistle blew as the ball settled in the net.

Bedlam. As IWC's players celebrated, several fans from the student section came on to the court and were quickly hustled off by IWC athletic director Mike Hampton.

But it was too late.

"You had two teams working their butts off and then the officials decide the game," Magnani said. "Unbelievable."

"I didn't see what happened," Gavin said. "All I know was the officials called us over and one of them said, 'We have to do this.'"

"There were still 2.2 seconds left," Wehr said. "I still thought we were going to win the game, before the technical was called."

IWC athletic department officials would not release the names of the officials after the game. The "Officials" blank on the post–game box score did not list the officials' names.

NAIA officials follow the NCAA men's basketball rule book, which states "followers of a team" cannot be on the court.

"If the ball was still in play, and they were running a play, I could see it," Magnani said. "But it was a dead ball. (The fans) were not interfering with the play."

"I didn't realize they could make that call," said Wilson, who was ready to shoot his free throw when the technical foul was called. "But one call didn't beat us."

Under NCAA rules, the technical free throws had to be shot first. Wehr, who was 9–of–10, wasn't worried as the chaos swirled about.

"I had been working on my free throws and I felt good," Wehr said. "I just blocked everything out."

Wehr made both free throws, then it was Wilson's turn to shoot one. He missed, Mount Mercy got the rebound, and the game was over.

"I was just hoping I would hit it," Wilson said. "You make some shots, you miss some shots. Unfortunately, I missed it."

"He played an exceptional game," Wehr said of Wilson. "It was unfortunate he got put in that situation."

After shaking hands with Gavin, Magnani headed to the student section. But there would be no scolding words.

"I told them, 'Great job,' and I meant it," Magnani said. "They did a great job of supporting us all year, they did a great job of supporting us today."

"Our crowd has been great all year," Wilson said. "They didn't cost us the game."

"I'm just sick to death how this ended," Gavin said.

As the Mount Mercy players headed to the bus, Gavin and Magnani shared one more moment. Then Magnani joined his family waiting nearby.

"I've been coaching 18 years," Magnani said.

"And I've never seen anything like this."

Didn't he mean "...and then the fans decide the game"? Or maybe "...and then the rules decide the game"?

Quote:

"I didn't realize they could make that call," said Wilson, who was ready to shoot his free throw when the technical foul was called. "But one call didn't beat us."

Sounds like a very mature young man to make such an astute comment. Maybe he should be the coach.

Quote:

"I told them, 'Great job,' and I meant it," Magnani said. "They did a great job of supporting us all year, they did a great job of supporting us today." "Our crowd has been great all year," Wilson said. "They didn't cost us the game."

Right - the officials did. Suuuuuure.

This coach ought to be taken out and slapped and called Shirley.

Maybe this should happen in some Div-I NCAA conference tourney game. That would stop all this charging-the-court stuff REAL fast.

Refer to Padgett's signature to find out when it will be called in a Div I playoff game...

I've seen this called in a regular season Division I game — with 0.7 seconds left (and it wasn't fans — just the team).

I doubt you would need to call this in the tournament because it <b>wouldn't happen</b>!

And Mark, I agree with your <a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080339">Airplane!</a> reference (re: Shirley)

Speaking of deciding the game....

Anyone else think that last-second foul in the Duke-SJ game should have been a no-call? Especially after it looked like the Duke player got fouled when the SJ player stole the ball....

Sure Duke deserves no sympathy for choking, but....

It wasn't clear in the article that it was the officials that shot the winning throws. I didn't know we were allowed to do that?!?!? :D


[Edited by Mike Burns on Mar 3rd, 2003 at 09:29 PM]

I'm with you on this one. Based on the replay, it was questionable at best.

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure
until he begins to blame somebody else."

- John Burroughs, Naturalist

Not sure about the foul that was called, but I thought there was a foul on the steal.

Yeah, me. I had the Dukies and Pitt in a parlay, killed me.

Good no call.
 

Why do people think there was a foul on the steal?

It looked like to me all the contact was caused by the Duke player. The St. Johns player was just defending the ball and backing up and the ball handler came to him. At least that was a great no-call in my opinion. But I guess that is why we get paid the big bucks.

Peace

If a team lacks the discipline it should have and runs onto the court, I call the T. But the fans? These are crazy, immature, sometimes drunk kids. I believe that the officials did use poor judgment in allowing someone who has no business in affecting the outcome of a game to end a season for a bunch of young men.
For those who consider what the officials did correct, consider that some really devious supporter could dress as a fan of the opposing team and attend the game. That way if his team is about to lose by 1, he can run onto the court and cause the opponents to receive a technical foul. That is absurd.
Fans who run onto the court should be ejected and fined, but they should not be made a part of the game, and they certainly should not determine a winner and a loser.

I don't have a rule book with me, so don't know, but do the officials have any discretion in this case? From what the article says, the fans were quickly ushered off the court. Could the officials have allowed play to just continue at that point?

I think its true that officials don't affect the outcome of games, just like a made or missed shot by a player at the conclusion of a game doesn't win or lose the game for his team. But, critical plays - and calls - at critical times, can appear to have a disproportionate impact.

While the coach shouldn't blame the officials for costing him the game, the officials need to take responsibility for making calls like this one. IF the rules allow this to be a judgment call, I think this falls under the category of poor game management.

NCAA Interpretation:
Play: With the score 67-66 in favor of Team B, A-1’s two-point try for goal is successful.
Two seconds remain on the game clock. Assuming that the successful try
was a game ending and winning goal, players and fans from Team A go on to the
playing court to celebrate.
Ruling: When the celebration causes a delay by preventing the ball from being promptly
made live or prevents continuous play, an indirect technical foul shall be assessed.
Any player from Team B shall attempt the two free throws and play shall resume
at the point of interruption. When the celebration does not delay or interfere with
play, the celebration shall be ignored.

I don't know what the NCAA rule is but I would hope it is similar to NFHS: 2.8.1 NOTE: "The officials may call fouls on either team if its supporters act in such a way as to interfere with the proper conduct of the game. Discretion must be used in calling such fouls, however, lest a team be unjustly penalized."
The key word here seems to be "unjustly." I think this case could possibly be considered unjust.

That's the catch. The article didn't say if this caused a great delay or not. Sound to me like it really didn't. The ball was dead, the officials had to report the foul and get them lined up for a free-throw. The article says that the fans were quickly ushered off the court, but doesn't really say what quickly is. I agree that you can't blame the officials for the loss, there is no question about that, this just doesn't seem like the right call in this situation. I can see this being called in a regular season game, but in the playoffs, boy I don't know.

A girl I used to coach plays in NCAA D2 here in Pennsylvania. They had a game earlier this season (I was listening to the internet broadcast) where the opponents' scored a three-point basket to go ahead by two. The clock was stopped after the basket with :00.5 remaining. The opponents came on to the floor to celebrate and were hit with a technical. My former player's team made both FTs, forced OT, and won the game.

I was surprised that they called it (I think they weren't going to until the coach brought it to their attention, based on the broadcast) but after reading what Bob posted, I'm much less surprised.

http://www.redzonemedia.com/teampages/iupwbb.html and "CLICK FOR ARCHIVE" for the Jan 25 game, and jump to about 2:12:00 to catch the end of regulation.

[Edited by A Pennsylvania Coach on Mar 4th, 2003 at 10:32 AM]

I agree. There could not have been a delay in making the ball live or interference by fans in this case. I could not justify making this call in a playoff or regular season game and I like to think I would have worked really hard to prevent the crew from making this call.

How many fans were on the court? 3, 5, 10, 40 and growing? we do not know since the writer choose for some reason not to give us that info. I'd suggest he had a motive for that. Sympathy for the team? Was he the hometown reporter?

If hordes of fans were charging the floor, then the aspects Bob cites in the NCAA book have been met and you have to make your decision: do I enforce the rule or not? At some point, the number of fans on the court interrupts the game and as officials we have to make a judgement when that ocurrs. When that figure is met in the official's judgement, you'd better have the steel to make the call.
Finally, the fans cost their team the game by putting the officials in a position of having to make a very tough call or not.

Those are my 2 cents.

Yes.

What if enough fans came onto the court that it prevented the calling official (remember, a foul had just been called) from reporting the foul. That would certainly delay the ball from becoming live again. Can't administer the FT until the foul is reported. Just a thought.

Chuck

Still can't see it doing it, in any event I think it would take one heck of a lot of fans swarming on the floor to delay the foul reporting.

Bottom line, nothing happens until the players line up for FTs anyway, so it's hard to justify a T for delay. Even if the delay is a few minutes to get the swarming fans off he floor.

This makes it easy for me. I never call this T. It is tough when it is a basket and the other team is trying to inbound.
Also, notice that bob jenkins' post says "players and fans" come onto the court. This case seemed to be just fans. In my mind that is a big distinction and I don't penalize a team for the stupidity of their fans. The action of the fans was not unsportsmanlike, just over exuberant.