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They could laugh about it in the St. John’s locker room. Former St. John’s player Anthony Mason Jr. shouted across the room to Justin Brownlee, “Hey Brownlee, you got the ball back? I hear they signed it.”
Brownlee committed two huge blunders yesterday, stepping out of bounds then heaving the ball into Section 76 of the Garden with 1.7 seconds remaining in a 65-63 win over Rutgers in a Big East Conference Tournament second-round game.
Amazingly, none of the three veteran officials spotted either error. Brownlee was unaware his foot had stepped out of bounds until informed by The Post.
“It was? I didn’t know that,” Brownlee said. “Man, I didn’t know that. Oh man.”
Oh man is right.
He threw the ball into the stands with the intention of running out the clock.
“I just let me emotions get to me,” Brownlee said. “Unfortunately, I threw it too early. Fortunately, time did expire and we came up with the win.”
But time had not run out. Lucky for St. John’s, the crew of Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Earl Walton missed both of Brownlee’s blunders in the final seconds, ending Rutgers’ season and allowing the Red Storm its date with destiny — a rematch with Syracuse. Oh man.
“The Big East Conference acknowledges that two separate officiating errors occurred at the conclusion of the St. John’s vs. Rutgers came,” Big East commissioner John Marinatto said in a statement. “Both missed violations should have caused the game clock to stop and a change of possession to occur prior to the end of the game. Neither error is reviewable or correctable under NCAA playing rules.”
According to published reports, John Adams, the NCAA officiating coordinator described the refs’ performance as “unacceptable.” Big East officials did not immediately respond to questions about any possible disciplinary action.
The Post reported in February that the Big East had suspended veteran refs Mike Kitts and Jim Haney for the league tournament because of an officiating error made during a regular season game.
The league did not announce those suspensions and it is highly unlikely it would make the announcement now. All three refs are scheduled to work the Big East Tournament today, but a source in the officiating community said he expected some sort of suspension.
When Mike Coburn of Rutgers (15-17) converted a three-point play with 57.9 seconds left, the No. 13 seed had erased a 10-point deficit and taken a 61-60 lead.
Dwight Hardy (17 points) and Sean Evans (13 points, nine rebounds) each converted both ends of a 1-and-1 to put St. John’s (21-10) ahead 64-61. Two free throws by Coburn shaved it to 64-63. After D.J. Kennedy converted a free throw for a 65-63 lead, Rutgers tried a three-quarters-court pass.
Brownlee intercepted and started dribbling at breakneck speed toward the St. John’s bench before heaving the ball into the stands.
“As I watched the ball go 15-20 rows up in the stands, I was thinking, ‘Please, just let this horn blow.’ And the horn blew and I jumped the [handshake] line to get out of here,” senior forward Justin Burrell said.
“Almost like it was a football game,” added Burrell. “Hurry up and snap the ball before they could review it.”
After conferring with Art Hyland, the conference’s director of officials, associate commissioner John Paquette told The Post that Brownlee throwing the ball into the stands wasn’t worthy of a technical foul because it wasn’t done in an unsporting manner.
“It was a great no-call by the officials,” Boothe said.
There was nothing great about it.
lenn.robbins@nypost.com
