ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It happened fast.
Junior guard Jadin Collins-Roberts laid on the ground, staring at the spacious Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall ceiling with the back of both hands resting on his forehead. Sophomore guard Justin Menard held both hands on his head in surrender cobra formation. Exasperated, senior forward Jaden Daughtry bent over and put his hands on his knees. Graduate student guard Rhyjon Blackwell collapsed to the floor, slammed his hands on the wood and flopped on his back.
What in the world just happened?
Five seconds prior, Blackwell contested a shot from sophomore forward Tye Dorset, who looked to push Merrimack’s lead to three as he rose for a fadeaway jumper just inside the free throw line. He missed short, very short.
A fraction of a second before the Daughtry corralled the airball, the shot clock went off. No official motioned for a shot clock violation, allowing the game to play on.
Chaos ensued. Collins-Roberts bobbled the pass from Daughtry, then had the ball stolen from him as time expired. Amidst the mayhem, no one on the court called Marist’s last timeout.
“I panicked a little bit to be completely honest,” Collins-Roberts said postgame, attempting to take ownership. “I knew we had one timeout… being the point guard, I should have been able to get it up across the court.”
Dunne quickly cut him off.
“I’m just gonna interject,” he said. “We talked about it in the timeout. If we got the stop, we got the clean outlet, we wanted to throw the ball up. If it wasn’t clean, we were gonna call timeout. It’s not on Jadin. It’s on me. I didn’t call the timeout. It’ll eat at me for years.”
In what felt like the blink of an eye, the horn sounded; freshman guard Kevair Kennedy spiked the ball and hugged head coach Joe Gallo, while Dunne and his bench stood, astounded.
Edited by Cara Lacey
Photo by Quinn DiFiore
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