New Jersey judge denies Manasquan HS basketball team’s filing in legal blow

An Ocean County (New Jersey) Superior Court judge denied Manasquan High School’s court filing on Thursday to postpone the NJSIAA Group 2 basketball championship game after the state semifinal ended in controversial fashion. 

Manasquan is fighting to have a seemingly wrong call at the end of their semis matchup against Camden overturned and, instead, have the Monmouth County high school declared the winners. 

Judge Mark Troncone ruled that the Superior Court did not have the jurisdiction to prevent Saturday’s state title game — slated to take place at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Rutgers’ campus at noon — from occurring as scheduled until the New Jersey Department of Education makes its decision, the Asbury Park Press reported. 

Manasquan filed an appeal petition with the DOE on Thursday over the NJSIAA’s original denial of their appeal earlier this week, and the attorney for the school, Michael Gross, told reporters outside of court that he had hoped the DOE would make a decision by Friday for there to be time for an appellate court to hear the case before the title game takes place.

“The district and the students in the district are deserved of getting the right outcome to this incident. So we are taking all these necessary steps to try to right the wrong that was done,” Gross told reporters following Troncone’s ruling. 

The high school basketball controversy has garnered national interest after Manasquan hit a last-second buzzer-beater at the end of Tuesday’s game to seemingly defeat Camden and advance to the championship game.

However, the basket was taken away after the officials huddled and ruled that the last-second shot by Griffin Lanstra didn’t leave his hands in time, instead handing Camden a 46-45 win. 

Outrage over the call has only intensified after replays showed the ball left Lanstra’s hands before the time expired, and the basket should have counted.

The NJSIAA itself has even admitted that one of the referees, upon seeing replays, said that the shot should have counted. 

In a statement, the New Jersey high school athletics governing body said that it understood Manasquan’s frustration, but the organization’s bylaws don’t allow for video review. 

Manasquan will continue to fight, and Gross said that time needs to be given for the DOE or the appellate division to “make a decision that we should be playing on Saturday.”

Camden is still slated to play Arts High School from Newark in the title game, but Newark public schools superintendent Roger Leon offered to delay the game in order to “allow time for the court to issue a correct, full and fair decision” 

“Most importantly, if the record shows that an incorrect call was made and an unfair outcome was therefore reached, the court should overturn that decision in the interest of justice and in the interest of teaching our students a valuable lesson,” he said in a statement to NJ.com. 

Lawyers for Camden school district have ripped the way that Manasquan has been handling the situation, with attorney Lou Cappelli Jr. calling the opposing district’s actions “ridiculous.”

“You have to learn to live with the decisions of the referee. That’s all part of sports,” Cappelli said, according to the Asbury Park Press.