Fan discovers USC-Aiken given extra point in one-point victory over Jags

By Carlos Rodriguez | Sports editor 

Augusta University men’s basketball team suffered a 64-63 loss to nearby rival USC-Aiken on Jan. 27, but the one-point Pacer win shouldn’t have ended the way it did; instead, the scoreboard should’ve read 63-63 at the end of regulation. 

That’s the conclusion of a longtime Augusta fan who always keeps his own scorebook. Dennis Brouse noticed the scoring mistake and contacted the Jaguar coaching staff. Brouse has been following the basketball team dating back to 1985 when he moved to Augusta. When spectators were allowed inside Christenberry Fieldhouse, he would bring a clipboard and keep score of the games, but now does he keeps score from his house.

“I always kept score; it’s just a thing with me,” said Brouse. “I just keep score at home whether I’m in person at the game, or whether I’m watching a video.”

Brouse watched the livestream of the Aiken-Augusta game the day after it aired and pointed out that Aiken was given an extra point, meaning the game should’ve been tied at the end of regulation and sent into overtime.

The extra point was added with 13:58 in the second half after Tehree Horn of USC-Aiken was fouled going up for a layup by senior Shawn Moss. The layup was swatted by junior Tyshaun Crawford but called goaltending by a referee, giving the Pacers two points with Horn going to the line for one shot as his team trailed AU 39-34.

Horn knocked down the free throw that cut the lead to 39-35, but the live stats credited him for making two free throws instead of one, making the score 39-36.

A few plays later Aiken TV commentator Marcus Johnson noticed that the live stats and the scoreboard in the Convocation Center did not match. 

“The announcer on the video said that the official stats showed Aiken with one more point than what the scoreboard showed,” said Brouse. “Well, my stats didn’t show that there was an extra point involved. So after the game I always compare my stats with the official stats, and I saw that Tehree Horn had two free throws made and I only had him with one free throw made.”

Brouse emailed AU Coach Dip Metress right after he figured it out to let him know of the discrepancy.  

“First time in 25 years that somebody pointed out to me after a game, with evidence, that there was a mistake,” said Metress. “I didn’t know it happened during the game because there was a goaltend and a run for them so we didn’t catch it, so I guess it’s our fault.”

Metress explained he reached out to seven different people and has barely gotten answers. 

“I’m a little dismayed and shocked, that I haven’t gotten a response back from Aiken’s SID or the Peach Belt Office, like it didn’t happen I guess,” Metress said. “I don’t know why nobody responded and said ‘Hey let me check into it’ or if they did they checked into it and never gave us an explanation what happened. That’s a little concerning.”

Could the Jaguars still have lost if the game went into overtime? Yes. Could they have won? Yes. But will we ever find out? No. NCAA rules do not allow for a change in game outcome after the game has been completed. Obviously, both teams left the arena that night believing USC Aiken had won.

Your record matters every year but this year in the Peach Belt it matters a little more for basketball. Normally, the top eight teams advance to the conference tournament, this year only the top four qualify.

Currently, the Jaguars are sitting in sixth place in the standings with a 3-3 conference record. If AU would’ve won, the conference standings would be reconstructed.

Aiken is currently 5-2 in the conference and in third place. If the Pacers had loss, they’d be 4-3. If Augusta had won, then they’d be 4-2 and be solely in third and Aiken would be tied for fifth with Georgia Southwestern. 

But now the Jaguars, who already are dealing with the problem of a minimized roster due to COVID-19, have to play their best basketball and try to win if not all, then the majority of the remaining 10 conference games to secure a top-four spot to contend for a PBC Tournament title.

“Moving forward our concern as a league, and coaches have brought this up, the coaches have expressed sentiment that we need to have more than four teams in this year,” said Metress. “We got to get back to eight teams this year because so many teams are missing games.”

Ken Gerlinger, the Peach Belt Conference assistant commissioner for communications, stated that the PBC has been given a report about the game. 

“There are NCAA protocols in place and unfortunately once the game is completed like this, there’s really nothing that can be done,” said Gerlinger. “We’re going to get with USC-Aiken and try to identify where the mistake came from and see what their plan is for addressing this so it doesn’t happen again in the future.”

Augusta (5-3, 3-3) will host Francis Marion University (3-5, 3-5) tonight, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m at Christenberry Fieldhouse. The game will be livestreamed on pbcsportsnetwork.com

Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carrodriguez@augusta.edu.