Article: MSHSAA investigates referee for potential conflict of interest

[All_Heart]

Unfortunately it sounds like a good official is being put through the ringer. I watched the 4th quarter as the naysayers (commenters in the article) requested and there was no conspiracy against Ladue that I saw. This is a good reminder to all of us that perception is everything and if there is even the smallest chance of a perceived conflict of interest then we have to understand that there is the potential for this to occur (right or wrong). Some of the commenters in the article do a great job of sticking up for the official which is not what I was expecting based on the majority of "commenters" in articles on the web. For the most part some very well written and intelligent comments which is unusual for the web . The news anchor is the biggest instigator/troll (I'm sure he's trying to drum up business).

Article: MSHSAA investigates referee for potential conflict of interest at Ladue-Hazelwood Central sectional

Video of the Game


Some of the comments after the article:

Mike Weghorst
I watched the 4th quarter of the Central - Ladue on Prepcasts as suggested in one of these posts, and the first thing that I noticed was that there were 2 additional officials working the game as I thought that Mark Halsell was the only official assigned to this contest based on the previous comments (tongue in cheek). I charted every whistle in the 4th quarter and which official made the call ... referring to the officials as Halsell, Official #2 (tall white guy), Official #3 (short white guy) ... so here y'all go with the score being Ladue 46 - Central - 37:

- Foul on Central (Halsell)
- Foul on Central (Official #2)
- Foul on Central (Halsell)
- Central is Out of Bounds (Halsell)
- Foul on Ladue (Double whistle ... Halsell & Official #2)
- Travel on Ladue (Halsell) ... questionable ... could have been a held ball or foul on Central (occurs when score is 46-43 in video)
- Foul on Ladue (Double whistle ... Officials #2 & #3)
- Foul on Ladue (Official #3)
- Foul on Central (Halsell)
- Charging foul on Central (Halsell) ... questionable as it looked like a blocking foul on Ladue
- Foul on Central (Official #2)
- Central is Out of Bounds (Halsell)
- Ladue is Out of Bounds (Halsell)
- Foul on Ladue (Official #2)
- Clock Stop Foul on Ladue (Official #2)
- Clock Stop Foul on Ladue (Official #2)
- Clock Stop Foul on Ladue (Official #2)
- Clock Stop Foul on Ladue (Official #2)
- Foul on Ladue (Official #2)

- no significant “No-Calls” of note

- 5 fouls called on Central in the 4th quarter … 4 by Halsell
- 5 fouls called on Ladue in the 4th quarter … 1 by Halsell on a double whistle
- 4 Clock Stop fouls called on Ladue … none by Halsell

Please draw your own conclusions from these observations while here is my conclusion from an unbiased 45-year basketball player/fan who's not even from Missouri (i.e. no potential conflict of interest) ... the 4th quarter of this intense game was extremely well and fairly officiated with 2 questionable calls by Halsell ... one against Ladue and one for Ladue ... so that's a wash. The large disparity in team foul shot attempts is partly a result of the number of fouls that Ladue committed late in the game in order to stop the clock. Unfortunately for Ladue, Central made their free throws.

Bottom-line ... while there might be an appearance of a potential conflict of interest on the surface, it definitely and obviously was not in play during this contest in which the officials had no effect on the outcome as Hazelwood Central completely outplayed Ladue in the 4th quarter (32 - 6) due to a tough defense that resulted in numerous Ladue turnovers, better rebounding on multiple Ladue misses from the field and from the foul line, and more determined hustle that lead to easy points at their end of the court as Ladue looked spent ... and there is no litigation of which I am aware that can change all of that.

Paul Xm
Interesting, I didn't see where the HC grabbed my son and pulled him out of bounds and the call was out of bounds. You also left out where my son was shoved by two of the HC central players when he had the ball and he grabbed one of them pushing him and pulled him to the ground as he fell with them. The call? Traveling. (occurs when score is 46-43 in video) Your analysis also fails to take into account the "no calls", e.g., hand checks etc. that permeated the 4th quarter. Case in point: my 6'7" son shoots the ball, is hit hard and his shot is altered so badly that it sticks between the rim and the backboard. Call? Jump ball. Case in point: Cornell Johnston drives to the basket, leaps in the air and his path is altered 30 degrees due to the hard foul from the HC player. No call. Missouri refs were specifically instructed to call hand checks this year. Not too many called in this game. Why not just stop calling traveling as well?

Wes Mantooth (Lead Anchor at KQHS Channel 9 Evening News)
Mike, it would have been more helpful had you included the score and time for each of those calls. The bulk of the calls on Central occurred during the first couple of possessions. Then the refs swallowed their whistles. It wasn't until Central had the lead and all of the momentum that they started calling fouls again.

And as Paul noted, the bigger issue was the fouls that were not called. Even the announcers kept talking about how the refs were letting them play in the fourth quarter. Whose style of play did that favor?