It took the Ball State men’s basketball team an additional two overtime periods to defeat conference foe Eastern Michigan 88-87 this past Saturday, but the final 14 seconds were enough to put both schools in the national spotlight.
Several Ball State students had reactions to the ending of the game, including sophomore telecommunications major Erik Alcantar.
“[It was], in a word, chaos," Alcantar said. "The refs swallowed their whistles as three or four fouls were committed, and it pretty much cost Eastern Michigan the game.”
Following multiple missed calls by its officiating crew, the Mid-American Conference suspended two of the three officials from their next two games and conference tournament play.
Senior business administration major Dominic Dal Santo weighed in on the suspensions handed down by the MAC, calling them “justified and necessary” due to the officials “blatantly missing calls that needed to be made."
While the suspensions will prevent both officials from being considered for postseason play, it does not change the outcome of the game.
The instance on Jan. 23 was very similar to the ending of the Miami-Duke football game on Oct. 31, 2015. The Hurricanes completed a total of eight laterals on the final kickoff return, paving the way to a stunning 30-27 victory over the Blue Devils as time expired.
Due to several admitted lapses in judgment on the last play of that game, the entire officiating crew was suspended for two conference games, as determined by the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Officials at all levels of sport are being called out for making mistakes in athletic contests. Although the human element plays such a large role in athletics, the suspension of officials remains a rare occurrence.
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