Governing Body Admits NJ High School Was Robbed When Refs Overturned Game-Winner

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association admitted on Wednesday that its referees were wrong to overturn a game-winning shot in a state playoff game.

In Tuesday’s Group 2 boy’s semifinal game between Manasquan and Camden, Manasquan’s Griffin Linstra made a put-back layup as time expired that was initially ruled a good basket, giving his team the win. But the referees conferred and decided to reverse the call, waving the basket off and declaring Camden the winner. 

Video of the play shows that the ball left Linstra’s hands well before the final buzzer sounded. 

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association released a statement on Wednesday acknowledging that the decision to reverse the call was wrong. 

“Unlike in college or the pros, there is no instant replay review in high school basketball in New Jersey,” the statement read in part. “These are the rules of the game that all schools agree to follow, and which have been upheld on appeal. We apologize to the Manasquan team for the error.”

The organization said that one of the three refs believed the shot beat the buzzer, while a second thought he heard the buzzer sound while the ball was still in Linstra’s hands, prompting the conference between the three officials. 

“Later, after being shown video clips,” the NJSIAA said in its statement, “the second official agreed the basket should have counted.”

Manasquan contested the result of the game, but the NJSIAA denied the appeal. The school is now seeking legal remedies to reverse the result of the game. The town’s board of education filed an order to show cause in county court on Thursday, according to the Asbury Park Press. The filing seeks to have Manasquan declared the winner of Tuesday’s game and inserted into Saturday’s state championship game Arts High School of Newark.