Things learned, observed Days 1-2 of Far East High School Basketball Tournaments
Published: February 20, 2012
It wasn’t the way Robert D. Edgren’s boys wanted to win their Day 2 pool-play contest against Yongsan International-Seoul, Eagles coach Andre Thibert said after Edgren survived the Guardians in double overtime, 45-42, a game in which a scorebook points controversy ended up sending the teams back onto the court after the game was seemingly over.
YIS-Seoul appeared headed for a certain victory, leading by two points after one overtime, 37-35. But Edgren was awarded two more points when the officials and scorekeeper went to verify the game’s outcome and the teams were told to return to the court and continue play.
“It’s not the way we wanted to win,” Thibert said. “Just the way things worked out. I feel badly for them.”
“Nobody likes to have a discrepancy like that,” tournament director Steven Rabine said.
Though upset with the outcome, Guardians coach Daniel Hale said, “I’m not going to protest the game. … I don’t think anything is going to change.”
DODDS tournament bylaws generally do not allow protests nor permit games to be replayed during the course of a tournament. National Federation of State High School Associations rules for basketball state that an error of any type is not correctable once play resumes from the point where said error occurred.
The scorebook had the game tied 4-4 after one period, Edgren leading 11-10 at halftime, YIS-Seoul up 26-20 after three periods and the score tied 30-30 after regulation.
After the first overtime, with the game seemingly in YIS-Seoul’s hands, Edgren’s players were packing their things and even had “one foot out the door” for lunch, Thibert said, when the officials and the scorekeepers conferred to verify the game’s outcome and credited Edgren with two more points.
Problem was, according to the coaches and tournament director Steven Rabine, Edgren should have been credited with the points during the first quarter if they should have been credited at all, which would have changed the entire dynamic of the game’s late stages. The game’s officials could not be reached for comment after the game.
“Obviously, our whole strategy changes” depending on who’s leading and whether Edgren had been credited with the two points, Hale said. If the game is tied, “we’re going to go for more points. If we’re leading, then we’re going to stall out the remaining time.”
Hale also said he took issue with the way the clock was being managed, that it wasn’t being stopped and started properly, and he voiced his concerns to the game’s referees to no avail. They even had to use new officials to play out the second overtime, as the game’s original crew had departed the gym following the first overtime.
“It’s an issue,” Hale said, adding that he would take it up with Rabine before the week is out.
“I really don’t know what to make of it,” said Rabine, who is directing his first Far East tournament. He added that the outcome could end up affecting tournament seeding, which teams would play which in the double-elimination playoffs starting Wednesday. “Maybe they’ll get another chance at each other,” he said.
Asked if the outcome might influence his desire to play in another Far East tournament – the Guardians won the event in 2008 – Hale said, “A lot of things run through your mind when something like this happens.”
