Mountain West reverses stance, but says result of game will remain
— -- Boise State should have beaten Colorado State on James Webb III's last-second banked 3-pointer at the end of the first overtime earlier this week, but the game result can't be overturned under NCAA rules, the Mountain West Conference said in a statement Friday after reviewing the video for a second day in a row.
Colorado State beat Boise State 97-93 in the second overtime Wednesday night in Fort Collins, Colorado, after Webb's shot was waved off. The shot was initially called good by the officials, but after huddling up at midcourt and watching a video replay, they overturned the call. The league then issued another statement Thursday and released the video it used to prove its point.
Initially, officials said the elapsed time of the shot was actually more 1.2 or 1.3 seconds instead of getting it under the 0.8 seconds that were remaining. But further analysis was called for, prompting the reversal Friday.
The conference said there was a discrepancy between the "rate at which the embedded digital stopwatch advanced and the rate at which the game clock regressed during the instant replay review.'' The statement went on to say the officials made the correct decision with the evidence they had at the time. But the conference office said it didn't see a video at full speed from the production truck.
Ultimately, the conference said the one replay angle from the opposite baseline camera the officials were using wasn't at full speed when it was seen on television, and as a result the embedded stopwatch outpaced the video giving the officials a false reading.
The conference concluded by saying after measuring the timing of the shot again that Webb's shot should have counted and did get off within the 0.8 seconds remaining.
However, under Rule 5, Section 5, a result of a game cannot be overturned.
Boise State (16-9, 7-5) fell into a fourth-place tie in the Mountain West with the loss. It's a game behind second-place teams Fresno State and New Mexico in the loss column and four games behind first-place San Diego State.
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