Time is against Manasquan in their desperate attempt to overturn their crushing loss to Camden.
According to NJ.com, the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education has upheld the officials’ ruling for Camden’s controversial buzzer beater victory in the state semifinal on Friday, deeming the result as “not reviewable.”
Manasquan has now been denied by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, the courts and the Department of Education.
Manasquan’s Griffin Linstra appears to score right before the buzzer, but the referees ruled the shot was too late Peter Ackerman / USA TODAY NETWORKManasquan has pushed for legal action after referees reversed their on-court ruling on Griffin Linstra’s buzzer-beater, leaving Camden with a 46-45 win and a spot in the state title game on Saturday at noon against Newark Arts at Rutgers.
Video shows Linstra’s shot was clearly off before the clock hit zero, setting off legal action from Manasquan officials.
“Manasquan protested the determination to the NJSIAA, which denied the appeal, and now seeks to have the officials’ call and the NJSIAA’s determination overturned by the Commissioner,” Acting Commissioner Kevin Dehmer said, according to part of a letter obtained by NJ.com on Friday.
“Upon careful consideration of this matter and granting every inference to Manasquan for purposes of this proceeding, the Commissioner is unable to grant the relief requested.”
The commissioner’s denial comes a day after Judge Mark Troncone denied a filing to postpone Saturday’s scheduled Group 2 championship game, even though the NJSIAA admitted the final call was incorrect.
The commissioner’s denial comes a day after Judge Mark Troncone denied a filing to postpone Saturday’s scheduled Group 2 championship game, even though the NJSIAA admitted the final call was incorrect.
Troncone pointed Manasquan toward the Department of Education as the next step.
The school district reportedly filed an emergent application to Appellate Division on Friday, according to Gerald Clark, whose law firm is representing the Manasquan Board of Education.
“NJSIAA’s position they cannot use video is wrong,” Clark told NJ Advance Media on Friday morning before the decision went against Manasquan. “They use it frequently to exact discipline and punishment to players and coaches, and their own rules specifically provide for it in this very state tournament situation. The only waste of taxpayer money here is NJSIAA’s inexplicable refusal to voluntarily do the right thing and send the right message to the kids.”
Manasquan Superintendent of Schools Frank Kasyan expressed his disappointment in the Department of Education’s decision.
“I wanted to show the students that any time you feel something unjust occurs instead of overreacting to that, you follow the process and procedures that are put in place to make the correction,” Kasyan said. “According to the state of New Jersey, the only avenue I had to go was first of all through the Superior Court system to try to get a stay so the game wouldn’t be played until the Commissioner of Education would give us emergent relief and give us a call on what he felt was the right thing to do.
“That’s why we did what we did and unfortunately I was a little disappointed with his decision, but he stayed in line with the NJSIAA rules and regulations. Hopefully, I am going to get something from the NJSIAA.”
