Bruins Lost by One--but Should Have Had Two

Upon further review . . .

Though it won’t change the outcome of UCLA’s 67-66 loss to Stanford on Saturday, the Pacific 10 Conference on Tuesday acknowledged that officials erred when they disallowed an uncontested UCLA basket because of confusion over a television timeout.

At a dead-ball situation with 15:36 left, and the score tied, 42-42, Stanford players started walking off the court, seeing a signal from the scorer’s table and noticing that, because it was the first stoppage after the 16-minute mark in a half, a TV timeout was due.

But only the Cardinal players seemed to notice. The game officials--Bob Garibaldi, Terry Christman and Alan Moberg--allowed Charles O’Bannon to inbound the ball to Jelani McCoy, who dunked.

After a brief discussion, the officials decided that a timeout should have been called and took McCoy’s basket off the scoreboard.

In Tuesday’s statement, Booker Turner, the conference’s coordinator of officiating, said that because the officials did not notice the scorer’s signal, play should have continued until they did, whether or not Stanford was prepared to play.

“A timeout, whether a media or team-called break, does not begin until a timeout is acknowledged by an official, and both teams and the scorer’s table have been notified,” the statement read. “The teams cannot react to a signal from the scorer’s table or anticipate a timeout until an official gives the signal.”