Bad Call Robs D-III Team of Flawless Buzzer-Beating Tip-In

St. Olaf Athetics

A Division-III team in Minnesota was denied a thrilling victory Wednesday night thanks to an awful call by the game officials. 

St. Olaf College faced in-conference rival Augsburg University at home and managed to erase a 17-point second-half deficit. With 0.2 seconds left on the clock, the Oles trailed by one point and lined up for an inbound play underneath their own basket. With so little time on the clock, the Oles couldn’t try for a catch-and-shoot. Their game-winner would have to be a tip-in. 

St. Olaf ran a clever play that allowed junior guard Dominic Bledsoe to lob the ball up to senior forward Troy Diggins Jr., who redirected the pass toward the hoop with a volleyball-like motion.

The ball clearly left Diggins’s hands before the clock hit zero, but the shot was waved off by the officials on the court. 

Obviously there isn’t replay review in D-III, so there was no hope of the call being overturned.