The Game Ball Goes To The Timekeeper

The clock inexplicably stops to give the home team extra time on their last possession. The refs huddle up and decide to end the game before the visitors can have theirs. You're damn right there's going to be controversy.

Xavier needs to get over this, because we all know the NCAA and its officials will resort to all kinds of shady tricks to help out their marquee teams like...Butler?

Down a point, the Bulldogs did everything they can to fumble away a win, including losing the ball into the backcourt. That's when the person in charge of the clock (a Butler employee, mind you) decided to stop the clock with 14.7 seconds left.

It turns out that 1.3 seconds should have elapsed. Why is this number significant? Because Gordon Hayward put in a layup with 1.2 seconds left, to take a 1-point lead. So as Butler called a timeout and Xavier coach Chris Mack drew up a final play, the referees consulted — for seven minutes — and declared the game over. A buzzer-beater without a buzzer.

Mack dismissed the ruling and Terrell Holloway had to be restrained, but that was that. Never mind the fact that the final 14.7 seconds would undoubtedly have played out different had the correct amount of time been on the clock. Never mind the fact that the Musketeers are paying for the home team's timekeeper's mistake, and a reading of the rules allows for the possibility of restarting from 14.7 seconds.

Never mind all that. The NCAA has long been a pawn of the Horizon League, and there's nothing we can do about it.

Hayward's Layup Off Scramble Beats Clock [Indy Star]