Thursday, March 2, 1989

Controversy surrounds Hawk loss at divisional tourney

To say that the Broadus Hawks got the short end of the stick at the Eastern 2-B Divisional Basketball tournament is the understatement of the year.

In their second game of the tourney, Broadus had a two-point advantage over Circle, with about 30 seconds left in the contest. Circle hit a field goal and tied the score at 56 all. Then, Broadus got the ball back with 12 seconds to go. And, as time expired, Shawn Samuelson was fouled on his way to the basket. With no time left on the clock, Samuelson had two chances at the free throw line to win the game for Broadus. The young freshman connected on his first attempt, for what should have been the game winning point. The Hawk bench and a few fans emptied onto the court, unable to control their emotion. And, despite the fact that there was Circle coaching staff and bench on the floor too, a referee called a technical foul on Broadus as Samuleson still had one more shot. The Wildcats hit their free-throws on the technical and the game went into overtime. The Hawks and their fans were stunned… and Circle went on to win the contest, 70-65 in overtime.

“Our momentum was shattered. It was hard on the kids to get back into it mentally, after they thought they had won,” said a very discouraged Hawk coach, Lynn Safranski. “I want to go on the record in saying that what happened to us was not ethically correct. Everybody in the gym who witnessed the game knew we had won. The referees made a judgement call and then didn’t take the time to think it out.

“But, I’m proud as hell of the kids, the student body, and the fans. The kids were upset but they handled themselves like young adults,” Safranski continued. “They are very classy kids and the community has a lot to be proud of.”

Safranski and a number of others protested to the Montana High School Association, to no avail. “They said the protest couldn’t be heard because it was a judgement call by the referee,” Safranksi said. “But that’s not saying the judgement call was correct. It wasn’t.”

Still stunned by Friday’s loss to the Wildcats, Broadus was then eliminated from the tourney Saturday morning in a 71-67 loss to Poplar.