Story by reader Kelwin Koh
Singapore Basketball Center, Friday, August 1, 2008 – I only managed to make it to SBC mid-way through the 3rd quarter and as I entered the hall, the scoreboard on Court 1 read 43-33 with Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) holding a comfortable 10-point lead. HCI were dominant inside the paint area with their two tall centers. They smothered the Woodlands Ring offense and disrupted their usual frantic, high-speed running offense.
HCI dominated the boards and reduced the ability of WR to go on their fastbreaks.
But as the time wore on, it was evident that Woodlands Ring would not go down quietly. Led by WR#10 Aldric Hu, the team went on a full-court press with close to 4 minutes left in the quarter. HCI's glaring weakness at the guard position was fully exposed as they could neither find a way to safely inbound the ball nor to feed their superior low-post players on the offense. Woodlands Ring came up with steal after steal and a dagger 3-point shot by Aldric with 55 seconds left on the clock closed the game to within 1 possession.
What happened next has to be among the most bizarre 55 seconds of basketball so far in this year's C Div Basketball Championship with turnovers, a missed full-court pass by HCI and two close calls by the referees to stop the clock at 4s and 1s left. As Woodlands Ring set up to repeat their set play with 1 second left on the clock, I wondered why HCI failed to cover WR#10 Aldric with a box-1. And as expected by everyone in the audience, Aldric came off a screen, caught the inbound pass, set his feet and swished in the game-winning 3-point shot.
Pandemonium erupted on the HCI bench as they saw the referee's hand raised to indicate a successful 3-point shot. They were not the only ones who could not believe it as spectators also had looks of bewilderment on their faces.
Had the buzzer gone before the shot? Would a player have time to set his feet before shooting with the clock at 1 second?
I believe that in the NBA, such a situation would call for a review of the video before a final judgment is made however at our school level, the referee's decision is final. Kudos to HCI for maintaining their composure and deciding to take the gentleman's route of contesting this issue by lodging an appeal with the organizers.
However it seems that if they do make it to the next round, they have a more pressing issue at hand, that is getting their guards to understand how to break the full-court press. This problem has plagued them since the zonal rounds and looking at the possible opponents in the second round (Jurong, Anglican, Raffles, Unity), those teams are all adept at applying the full-court press with fearsome aggressiveness.
Hopefully with time, the resources will allow us to have an additional referee on the court and hopefully video evidence that referees can call upon to review controversial calls but until then, we can only trust the men in black.
Ed’s note: This post was written and submitted to us before another reader brought up the picture evidence you see below. The picture evidence was rejected by the arbitration panel because it was not agreed before the match started that picture evidence was permitted.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=815DQOZIkFA
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This is a little late and not sure anyone will read it. Those who are familiar with the 24 sec shot clocks at SBC will know that the clock showing 0 can mean 0.00 or 0.99. The moment you press “start” on the 24 sec shot clock, it jumps to 23. This actually means 23.99 of course. So the picture evidence does not mean anything. However, the buzzer does sound when it’s 0.00, so HCI would have a case if it can be shown via video (with SOUND) that the shot was released before the buzzer. But in any case, it IS stated in the FIBA rules that for video evidence for such situations to be permitted, it has to be declared before the game. There is no end to the debate on video replays, even at the highest levels. NBA, FIBA, FIFA, etc. One of the attractions of sport is the human drama involved.
I feel that videos should be accepted as it is plain evidence that the shot was after the buzzer and that the videos should be considered.
[…] Related stories: Controversy erupts as as Woodlands Ring edge out Hwa Chong in C Division thriller About that 3-point shot… […]
No one disrespected the ref. All of the players shook hands and bowed to one another and the coaches and the officials in the Singapore tradition. Despite his glaringly bad call, so far as I’m aware no one said a word to the ref except the FIBA official who was there to conduct a seminar. If you need more video evidence that can be arranged. If by ‘respecting the ref’ you mean that I have to say that I think he made a good call when in fact, I think he made a bad call, then I think you have a misconception about what respecting the official means.
even in e nba…referees make damn stupid mistakes…eg. travelling oso nvr call…e referee’s decision is final man…u nvr see in international games…nt onli in basketball…where e result of e game is changed after seeing videos like this…u have to respect e referee…deres a reason y he’s called one
well. firstly, i think that the referees should accept the reason of HCI. there is PROOF stating that the opponent of HCI threw the ball in after the buzzer went off.It is simple ridiculous and outrageous. it is unfair to HCI too.
Secondly, it is indeed that singaporean referees are not really well-trained. they should really go for workshops every now and then. If they do already, perhaps they should go for MORE of those workshops…
Well, since the decision is final, there is nothing we an do about it. HCI, jia you! jia you for the next tournament. And be sure to always win your opponents more, rather then a few points. juz to be on the safe side. Plus, dun worry too much about this match. You all know that you all have won WRS, that’s enough. (=
Jia yous!! (:
—A unknown passerby that agrees to the fact that HCI should win WRS.—
And someone tell me what happens when a referee makes good calls in a game? Do they get recognized for it? Or does some kid from the non-winning team come here and kick up a big fuss? Either way isn’t the referee disadvantaged?