Missouri Girls tournament basketball game error causes redo!

 

The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) had determined that a serious procedural error happened in a game Monday night between Highland High School and Principia High School. The Class 3 Sectional game finished in a 46-45 win for Principia. But events late in the 3rd quarter forced the MSHSAA to intercede.

 

What happened?

 

With 54 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter, Highland’s official scorer noticed a one point discrepancy in their scorebook and the scoreboard. Table scorers earlier in the quarter recorded a basket as a three pointer but thought they had made a mistake. According to the  MSHSAA’s inquiry, the official table scorers did NOT confer with the referees immediately and “attempted to address what they believed to be an error “ later in the quarter. They failed to give Highland a point in a subsequent bucket.

 

At the end of the 3rd quarter, the parties got together to try and identify the error. The referee crew went back to the official halftime and 3rd quarter stats kept by the official scorers. But the team scorebooks were NOT addressed as the NFSA rule 2.11.11 states. The Missouri Association even sent a communication in late February to remind tournament basketball officials of this point.

 

What was the official ruling?

The game will commence from the 54 second mark of the 3rd quarter. All stats will be disregarded from that time to the end. All game conditions will be identified and placed exactly as it was at that time. Both sides will play out the game with new officials.

 

The three main issues identified by the Executive Director of the MSHSAA were:

 

1. Visiting teams scorebooks were NOT consulted as required.
2. Highland’s head coach was correct to ask the refs to look at the team’s books, though the officials denied the request.
3. The on-site procedures for a protest were NOT followed as stated in the National rules book and the Missouri handbook.

 

Video evidence confirmed the error, but because the proper protest procedures were NOT followed, they were not able to add a point to the Highland score, which would have made the final a tie!

 

So how did this end?

Principia defeated Highland, 47-43 Wednesday night. 

 

Lessons?

Being a ref in any sport is a tough job. I’ve been there and tried my best in baseball and basketball and golf to adhere to the sportsmanship and rules all student athletes agree to play by. Scoring is also a tough job. I would score basketball for CYO and at every timeout, I would go to the other team’s scorer and official scorekeeper to make sure we were all in agreement.

 

And as much as fans like to criticize state’s athletic boards, Missouri’s got this one totally correct. Kudos to them.

 

Wonder if other states have crazy issues like this as their basketball season’s draw to a close!