New Mexico Handed a Victory on a Silver Platter by Referees

Thug Olney freely batters and injures Andre Miller in a contest that Utah dominated.

New Mexico given Preferential Treatment down the stretch.

by Chris Evans

The University of New Mexico Lobos were virtually handed a victory this afternoon by the blatantly biased officiating crew. They weren't blatantly biased through the whole game, but their servitude displayed itself when it was the most critical. After Utah dominated the first half, going in to the locker room with a 35-24 advantage, the Lobos came back out of the gate with the referees obviously on thier side.

Andre Miller was having a career night, scoring 12 of his career high 22 points in the first half and leading the Utes to an 11 point halftime lead. Others playing well included Hanno Möttölä, who also had 12 points, and surprising freshman Trace Caton with 7.

Utah came out of the gates shooting a blistering 58% from the field, while allowing a paltry 33% by the Lobos. The Utes dominated every statistical category going into halftime. But it is a game of halves.

In the second half, the Lobos got on the board quickly, by feeding the ball inside to bruiser Kenny Thomas, who barrelled Hanno over on his way to the hoop. No whistle, no foul.

Two New Mexico posessions later, Alex Jensen hauled in a rebound off a missed three pointer, but Clayton Shields ran him over, reached in and knocked the ball out of his hands. The force of the collision knocked Alex out of bounds, and the referee, who was standing right there, ruled that Alex was out of bounds when he last touched the ball. No whistle, no foul. Posession: New Mexico.

The game calmed down from there and the referees actually called some fouls on the Lobos, though most of them were the ticky-tacky sort. That's pretty much how the game was called. There were three traveling violations called on the Utes in the first half, none of which were actual walks. Yet, they let the most blatant traveling (by Hanno) go by unnoticed!

New Mexico got as close as four points several times, but the Utes were always able to pull away and build the advantage back up to 8 or 9. With about three minutes left in the game, the Lobos got it down to three points. But a pair of quick three pointers by the Utes had the margin back up to 9.

And that's when the fun began.

On the next posession, Andre Miller was called for a "five second" violation for being closely guarded by Gibson, just as he took off for the basket. It was really a touchy call, because Andre was standing behind Michael Doleac at the top of the key, and Gibson was at Doleac's side. Posession: New Mexico

Clayton Shields ran down the court and drained a three pointer. Utah by 6.

The next posession featured a spectacular play whereby Alex Jensen hit a leaning jump shot just as the shot clock expired. Utah by 8.

Clayton Shields was the answer man this time, and he quickly popped up a baseline jumper. Utah by 6.

Coach Dave Bliss decided that he'd better start pressing the Utes, who had somehow ticked the clock down to under two minutes without him noticing. On their first try, the ball was inbounded to Andre Miller, who was immediately punched in the face by Thug Olney. The impact of course freed the ball from Andre's hands, which was gathered up by Shields and slammed home. There was neither a whistle blown, nor a foul called. Utah by 4.

Andre Miller got hold of the ball on the next try and was fouled as he broke the press. He calmly sank both free throws to give the Utes a 6 point edge.

On the next posession, the Lobos took the ball down court and handed off to Thug Olney, who was, uh, "fouled" by Drew Hansen as he drove baseline. Thug hit both tries. Utah by 4.

But Olney was not through. The Lobos continued the press. Hansen inbounded the ball to Alex Jensen in the middle, who had to dodge a leaping Olney, who's knee actually came down on Jensen's back. Alex passed the ball back to Miller in the corner, who was being guarded by Shields. Andre drove around shields and was met by a streaking Thug who knocked him over backwards, once again freeing the ball from his hands. Olney took the loose ball back to the three point stripe and nailed a trey, as Andre Miller layed motionless on the ground.

No whistle was blown. No foul was called. The game was not stopped for the injured player. The referees could not have cared less. Utah by 1.

Olney, who obviously was not concerned about the Ute he injured, ran over to the bench to celebrate his great atrocity. Or maybe he was running to hide. Only Clayton Shields remained to see if the stricken Miller was Okay.

After a tense timeout graciously awarded by the officials, Andre got up and walked back to the bench. Fortunately, he would return.

On the next Utah posession, Andre Miller managed to break the press again, and Drew Hansen was fouled by none other than Thug Olney. It was a one-and-one situation. Two points would have given the Utes a three point cushion. But Drew bricked the front end.

The rebound came down to Alex Jensen, but it was stripped from his hands by Clayton Shields. But the referee, who was no more than two feet from the action, ruled that Al had knocked the ball out of bounds!! Even I could see from my couch that it was the blatantly wrong call.

This was perhaps the most eggregious of all the violations of fair play committed by the officiating crew, because it gave the ball back to the Lobos with the Utes only up by a single point! And 30 seconds left to play.

They got the ball in to Kenny Thomas who layed up an egg, but got his own rebound and was fouled by Doleac on the put back. KT hit both of the free throws for the first lead of the game.

New Mexico moved immediately back into pressure mode, but it was quickly broken by the Utes, and Jensen was fouled as he went up strong to the hoop. All he had to do was hit one for the tie, but two for the lead. He hit one for the tie.

And that's when Thug Olney shined in his moment of grotesque triumph. He quickly ran down court and drained a three. Miller took the inbounds pass and quickly ran downcourt. He couldn't get clear for a shot, so he passed the ball to Hansen, who nailed a three.

But it was too late, for the buzzer had sounded just a split second before the ball left his hands. Utah by -3.

Notes:

We can blame the officials all we want for the Ute meltdown, but the fact remains that the Utes bricked at least 4 free throws in the final five minutes. They make those, they win the game. It's that simple.

Try as he might, Andre Miller's career game was overshadowed by the narrow loss. It's really too bad, because the Utes dominated nearly every aspect of the game, never relinquishing their lead, which was 6 to 11 points for most of the half, until they were served up on a silver platter, and handed to the Lobos. Andre Miller was the player of the game, in the process demonstrating moves even we didn't know he had. He repeatedly took his man off the dribble, shaking and baking, even throwing in a between the legs cross-over dribble. He dominated the paint, despite the fact that he's only 6'3".

Memo to the officials: Congratulations, dick heads! You ruined what could have been an undefeated WAC season with your disgusting lack of officiating skills. You make the right calls, the Utes win the game. Have a nice Sunday and I'll see you in Vegas when you collect your winnings.

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