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James Webb III clutched the inbounds pass with his fingertips, swiveled his hips, thrusted his left foot against the hardwood, and faded back as he drilled a heroic banking 3 to propel Boise State to a thrilling win in Moby Arena.
But as it turns out, he didn't.
For what seemed to anxious CSU and BSU fans to be an eternity, the three officials (Verne Harris, Tom O'Neil and David Hall) came to the conclusion that the shot clock had started late and eventually waived off Webb's unbelievable basket.
As expected, Leon Rice and the Broncos were livid, and were unable to come back from a nine-point deficit in the second overtime period as Colorado State knocked off Boise State 97-93 Wednesday night. John Gillon led the Rams with 19 points as all CSU players finished in double figures. Colorado State did a fantastic job on the glass, outrebounding Boise State 49-34 and grabbing 13 offensive boards.
The Broncos entered Wednesday night's matchup with hopes of turning the page on what has been a dismal past couple of weeks. After winning 10 straight games at one point in the season, the loss to Colorado State drops Boise State to 7-5 in conference play and 1-4 in the last five games. But no defeat will be more painful than the one that the Broncos suffered in Fort Collins.
Instantly after the refs waived off Webb's game-winner, Boise State's misfortune became the spotlight of the basketball world. Various college basketball analysts and reporters took to the internet to share their thoughts on the controversy. Even ESPN's Scott Van Pelt had college basketball reporter Jeff Goodman on SportsCenter to talk about the referee's decision to negate James Webb's shot in the first overtime period. Many BSU players explained their opinions on Twitter soon after the conclusion of the game, including Anthony Drmic:
Everybody knows I don't let my emotions run much on social media, but when players on the opposing team...
— Anthony Drmic (@AnthonyDrmic) February 11, 2016
say we got cheated how can I not. Waste of time of effort. @espn @moutainwest
— Anthony Drmic (@AnthonyDrmic) February 11, 2016
This debatable call is coming only three days after the Mountain West officials admitted a blown call at the finish of New Mexico's loss to San Diego State at Viejas Arena. The league's referees are back in the news tonight, and not for good reason.
The Mountain West released a statement at approximately 10:00 PM Pacific on the decision to waive off Webb's shot and it does not appear that this will be the last word from the league.