Sports

Bettors Want A Review After Refs Wave Off Buzzer Beating Putback To Cause Bad Beat

#College Basketball
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Collin Murray-Boyles shoots a layup in a game between South Carolina and Tennessee.

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College basketball bettors are furious with a call at the end of a matchup between South Carolina and Tennessee. Referees waved off a last second putback that appeared to go through the net with time left on the clock.

While it was meaningless in terms of the final outcome, it had a major impact on the spread – and it ended with a bad beat for those on the Gamecocks!

Tennessee came into Columbia as a 5.5-point favorite against South Carolina with an SEC regular season title on the line. The Vols entered at 13-3 in league play, and a win would clinch the conference championship.

The Gamecocks were 12-4 and had already beaten UT in Knoxville. Another win would even up the overall league records while securing the tiebreaker for the standings.

A close battle throughout, Tennessee pulled away late in the first half to take a double-digit lead into the halftime break.

South Carolina was down by 10 up until the three-minute mark in regulation before making a late run to make things interesting. Cutting the Volunteer lead to three points with just over a minute left, it then came down to free throws.

Tennesse made the most of their attempts, eventually building a 66-59 lead on its final possession.

Then, the bad beat.

With the game out of reach, South Carolina guard Meechie Johnson tossed up a last second three-point attempt as the final ticks counted down. While that shot didn’t go through the net, a putback slam dunk from Collin Murray-Boyles quickly followed.

That would’ve cut the lead to 66-61, giving South Carolina backers the slimmest of backdoor covers. But officials waved the basket off without taking a look at the replay.

That’s somewhat understood given its meaninglessness in terms of final result, but for bettors, it was big. And they wanted… no they needed a review!

Making things worse, it appeared the ball left Murray-Boyles’ hand with 0.1 left on the clock. It should’ve counted!

A brutally bad beat!

Instead of a South Carolina cover, Tennessee bettors were awarded with a 66-59 win. A tough, tough night for those on the Gamecocks’ side.