St. John’ s Was a Victim of a “Timing Error” in Controversial Final Seconds

by Josh Adams

Twitter exploded on Saturday night after St. John’s thought they got the ball on a turnover with 3.7 seconds left. The refs blew the whistle after the ball went out of bounds, sort of shrugged their shoulders and went to the monitor for several minutes. The determination was it was still Seton Hall’s possession where Shavar Reynolds hit a game winner with no time left on the clock.

The official statement from Stu Jackson and the Big East who attended the game for the Big East was that “The official decided it was a timing error. The clock did not start on the initial touch by the St. John’s defender on the throw-in.” Hence, Figueroa’s possession of the ball or a possible turnover was therefore non-existent due to an incorrect time on the clock. Seton Hall was allowed to in-bounds the ball after the lengthy delay.

St. John’s coach Chris Mullin was very upset about the call after the contest and when asked about if he received an explanation from the referees about the call, he replied, “No. If you (the press) get one let me know.”