A two-point lead with 0.1 seconds on the clock should have been a win for Southern Oregon, but one of the most controversial foul calls in recent memory turned a celebration into disbelief.

The Thursday night game between Southern Oregon University (SOU) and Bushnell in the NAIA Cascade Conference Championships quarterfinals ended in a way that no one foresaw.

Bushnell’s Cory Johnson, a senior who shoots 85% from the free-throw linegrabbed the rebound and attempted a full-court shot. He was fouled by Jace Anderson on the heave attempt, a call that turned the fate of the game.

At that point, SOU was up by two points, and that foul meant they would have to give away three free throws to the opposition with a 70-68 point lead with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock. Johnson sank all his free throws to earn his team a win in the final seconds.

The end felt like a disaster for SOU. College basketball had surely produced some big-time drama, but memory dodesn’t serve right when such a scene had unfolded prior. While the Bushnell fans were jubilant in their celebrations, high-fiving and hugging each other, SOU looked like a wreck.

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Lowered heads, despair in the face, lying back on the floor, contemplating what went wrong, it was all happening. Fans in the arena were quick to voice their outrage over the controversial finish.

Fans Not Happy With The Officiating In SOU Game

SOU’s loss against Bushnell was gut-wrenching, but it also brought the officiating under scrutiny. The fans were not at all happy with how things went down and were quick to hold the referee accountable.

“Terrible call, ref trying to be a hero,” said a fan who couldn’t hide his resentment. The fan found the foul unnecessary as they felt that the block wasn’t really worth that much punishment.

The visuals made it seem like Anderson clearly went for the ball without getting physical, and yet the referee made the call, which changed the entire complexion of the game. And that angered the fans completely.

“1-Idiot coach for telling player to purposely miss FT. 2-idiot ref for calling a foul on that,” said another fan.

Anderson missing the shot intentionally on the coach’s directions proved to be a huge mistake. The logic was strategic; they felt that by missing, the clock would likely run out during the rebound scramble, preventing Bushnell from setting up a clean final possession, but Johnson grabbed the rebound, forcing Anderson into a desperate lunge for the ball.

“First time I’ve ever seen a foul called on a heave,” said another who also felt the referee’s call going a bit overboard.

The standard practice on last-second heaves clearly tells the referees to be a little more lenient when it comes to going for the whistle. There’s a saying to ‘swallow the whistle.’ In both the NCAA and NBA, officials are expected to avoid deciding games on marginal contact during desperation shots. Unless the defender obviously makes significant contact, a foul is typically not called, and many felt that was the case here.

Moreover, a half‑court heave is already a very low‑percentage shot, and minor contact as such doesn’t trigger a foul in that scenario. Yet the referee deemed it necessary to blow the whistle.

Now SOU will have no other choice but to rue the moment they decided to opt for the missing shot strategy in their game, as it did more harm than good. Who knows if Jace Anderson would have hit the free throw in place of missing it on purpose? Maybe the result would have been completely different, and it would have been they who would have celebrated after the conclusion of their college basketball game.