La Salle Basketball: Clock error costs La Salle in Olean against St. Bonaventure

A premature starting of the game clock cost La Salle basketball an opportunity on final play.

After La Salle turned the ball over in a 60-60 game with 14 seconds in the second half, St. Bonaventure came out of a timeout holding the ball for the final shot of the game. Freshman Kyle Lofton, who’s averaging 15 points for the rebuilding Bonnies, received the inbound in front of his own bench, took on David Beatty one-on-one, and hit a pull-up jump shot from the left elbow to put St. Bonaventure up by a bucket. After an official review, 3.1 seconds remained on the clock for La Salle to make a play to either tie or win the game.

After a few timeouts, David Beatty picked up the ball under the St. Bonaventure basket for the inbound. He ran the baseline, and threw a baseball-style pass down the court that was tipped by Ed Croswell. The ball was eventually gathered by Pookie Powell, who threw up a wild shot as he fell out of bounds near the La Salle bench. The shot, that wouldn’t have counted, did not fall.

But as the players and staffs began to approach for handshakes and the game looked to be over, the broadcast announced that the referees were calling each team back to their benches and reviewing the last play. The video showed that the 3.1 seconds that remained on the clock began to wind down before Beatty even released the ball, a full two seconds before the clock should have started when the ball made contact with Croswell. After a few minutes at the monitor, the referees called the game over. St. Bonaventure won 62-60, and La Salle had slipped a game under .500 in A10 play. La Salle fans are, understandably, furious.

The Reilly Center in Olean is no stranger to dramatic and controversial finishes. In 2017, an early court-storming by St. Bonaventure students cost the Bonnies a win against VCU, giving the Rams a technical free throw with .4 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

But this one couldn’t be blamed on the fans. This was an official’s error that cost La Salle the opportunity to tie or win the game.

On Thursday, the Atlantic 10 announced it was looking into the incident. The league issued the following statement:

"“The Atlantic 10 is aware of the timing issue that occurred at the end of the La Salle-St. Bonaventure game on Wednesday. The league is reviewing the situation with the involved institutions and the conference coordinator of officials. Insuring that the officials applied the rules of the game correctly is our top priority in protecting fair play and the integrity of the game.”"

Whatever follow-up the Atlantic 10 delivers in response to Wednesday night’s events will probably be no consolation to Ash Howard and Explorer fans. La Salle is back in action on Saturday afternoon at Gola Arena against Richmond.