Saturday night was a big night for the college basketball world. It was the night of the Final Four. This year, the games were played at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The match ups were Virginia vs. Auburn and Michigan State vs. Texas Tech. The first game played was Virginia and Auburn. This is where the controversy happened.

With 5 minutes left in the game, Virginia’s Ty Jerome nailed a 3 pointer to put the Cavaliers up 10 points. The score was 57-47, Auburn quickly called a timeout to try and stop their momentum. Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl needed to calm down his team. This immediately sparked a run for the Tigers. They scored 14 unanswered points to take a 61-57 lead with just 17 seconds left in the game.

The Cavaliers quickly came down and responded with a 3 pointer made by Kyle Guy. They had to quickly foul and hope for a missed free throw. Auburn’s Jared Harper was sent to the line with a 1 point lead. Harper is an 83 percent free throw shooter. He made the first to give them a 62-60 lead. He then missed the second free throw and Auburn quickly fouled to try and slow down Virginia and stall their attempt for a last shot. This is when the controversy started.

The Cavaliers took the ball out of bounds and got it into Ty Jerome. He started getting the ball up the court and dribbled it off of his foot around half court. He then picked up the ball with two hands and began dribbling again. This should have been called a double dribble and Auburn should have gotten the ball back with less than 2 seconds remaining and a 62-60 advantage.

But,  there was no call. Jerome continued dribbling and was fouled by Auburn’s Bryce Brown. It was Virginia’s ball with under 2 seconds left. They quickly threw the ball to one of their best 3 point shooters in Kyle Guy. He pulled up for the three and was slightly bumped in the air during his shot. Guy went to the line and calmly made all 3 free throws and gave Auburn no chance to get a decent shot off. The game ended and Virginia won.

Lakewood High School student Chris Thelen was also watching the game. He said “Auburn got scammed out of a win. They missed the double dribble and the refs shouldn’t have called a foul on that shot at the end.” I’m sure a lot of the Auburn fans agree with what he had to say.