High School Basketball Team Has State Championship Berth Ripped Away After Refs Wave Off Clear Buzzer Beater

Manasquan High School appeared to punch its ticket to the New Jersey high school basketball state championship game with an electric buzzer-beater against Camden High School during Tuesday night's semifinal matchup.

The keyword there is ‘appeared,' because the referees calling the game had a different agenda.

The controversy unfolded with just under six seconds left in regulation after Camden managed to hit two free throws to take a 46-45 lead. A Manasquan player threw up a tough three-point attempt that caught the front-end of the rim, but fell directly to teammate Griffin Linstra who scored the put-back tip to give his team the win at the buzzer.

Or so Manasquan thought.

With Manasquan players and fans celebrating the upset win over Camden, the No. 2 ranked team on Max Preps, referees huddled up and waved off the basket, giving Camden the victory.

A still shot from the video clearly shows that there were at least 0.5 seconds left on the clock when the ball left Griffin's hand on what should have stood as the game-winner.

It wasn't even close, Griffin clearly got his shot off before the buzzer, and Manasquan was robbed from playing for a state title because a few imbecile referees forgot how clocks work in relation to basketball.

Camden coach Maalik Wayns credited the win on "luck," which is certainly rich.

"We got one. Sometimes a little bit of luck and hard work is on your side," Wayns told NJ.com.

Manasquan head coach Andrew Bilodeau understandably had some choice words for the referees who ripped away a legitimate win from his team.

"They reversed the call," Bilodeau said after the game, according to the Asbury Park Press. "The referee in the C position in the middle signaled ‘basket’s good,’ they huddled up, and then 15 kids got screwed in front of 1,000 people. Print that. Print it five times.

"Those three guys huddled up, and they screwed these kids in front of 1,000 people and that video will be on the internet for everyone to see."

Everyone inside the gym had their phone out recording the final seconds of the game, but checking those hundreds of videos to prove the referees got the call wrong would clearly be too much to ask in the year 2024.