‘Timeout’ that ended Bulldogs’ MW Tournament in OT loss clear. But who called for it?
There was no further comment from the Mountain West Conference on Thursday on the timeout call at the end of overtime in the Fresno State Bulldogs’ 80-76 loss to Boise State in the women’s tournament championship game.
But on multiple video replays someone clearly is calling, “Timeout. Timeout,” and the rulebook states that “a timeout shall be granted and charged after a visual or oral request is made by a player or head coach in (a) through (c) or the conditions in (d) through (f) exist.”
The (a) is “when a player of that team is in control of the ball (this includes throw-ins and free throws).”
The Bulldogs, the Mountain West regular-season champion and No. 1 seed in the tournament, were in control of the basketball at the time the timeout was called.
It is unclear, however, who made the call or where it came from. Fresno State coach Jaime White had made sure the Bulldogs knew when taking a timeout with 11 seconds to go that it was their last.
Referee Lisa Jones, who worked the game with Brenda Pantoja and Melissa Barlow, said the call came from the floor and not the Bulldogs’ bench.
“After making sure Fresno State recovered the ball without going out of bounds, I acknowledged the audible timeout that was requested by a player on the court,” Jones said.
“Fresno State was out of timeouts, so the excessive timeout came into play. When excessive timeout is assessed, it is the only administrative rule where the team loses possessions after two free throws by the opposing team.”
The call came just ahead of a follow off an offensive rebound by 5-foot-6 guard Aly Gamez, which would have tied the score with 0.9 seconds to play and likely cap a stunning comeback by the Bulldogs to send the championship game into a second overtime.
Fresno State was down by five points with 11 seconds remaining in the overtime before Hanna Cavinder grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to get the Bulldogs within 78-75 with four seconds to play.
Haley Cavinder then had a steal when the Broncos were trying to get the ball in bounds and was fouled. With just four seconds remaining, the freshman guard made the first foul shot then intentionally missed the second.
Gamez ran down that rebound and as time was running out turned and got a shot up – it hit nothing but net. When it went through, some of the Bulldogs had arms raised in celebration.
“Our kids gave it everything they had,” White said. “Every night, you’re not always in control of some things. And I thought our kids battled, and they did what they had to make that game winnable.
“It’s unfortunate that we did not win.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 1:20 PM.