BYU basketball: Cougars' last-gasp shot a split second late

PHOENIX — Some games come down to a matter of inches. Others end up being decided by a matter of seconds.

In BYU's heart-breaking 76-75 loss Saturday to No. 17 Arizona State at the Stadium Shootout, it was a matter of much less than that — more like less than a tenth-of-a-second to be exact.

The Cougars thought they had escaped the spacious University of Phoenix Stadium with an upset victory when Charles Abouo's off-balance, left-handed, over-the-head flip tip swished through at the buzzer — which would have given the Cougars a thrilling one-point victory. But the three officials, after several minutes of huddling around a replay monitor, eventually ruled Abouo's tip left his hand after time had expired, spoiling all of the leaps of joy expressed minutes earlier by Abouo and the Cougar bench and handing BYU its first loss of the season.

"It's tough to swallow, but there's not a lot you can do," an obviously frustrated Jonathan Tavernari said.

Despite the hard-to-swallow loss, the Cougars had no reason to believe the officials got it wrong. However, it was about as close of a call as a close-call can get. Still photographs showed the ball in Abouo's hand and the backboard light off, one frame later (less than one-tenth of a second) the ball was about a foot out of Abouo's hand and the time-expired light was on.

"I heard the horn while the ball was in the air and that's why I initially thought it was good," Abouo said.

Also, the Cougars said the game never should have come down to that final play in the first place — considering they squandered a 10-point lead over the final nine minutes and led by five with just over three minutes remaining. In fact, when ASU took that 76-75 lead on a free throw by Sun Devil star James Harden with 9.4 seconds left, it was the Sun Devils' only lead of the second half.

"It was a hard-fought game and obviously a game that could have gone either way," ASU coach Herb Sendek said. "Fortunately for us, (Abouo's tip) came after the buzzer."

A few sloppy possessions down the stretch, a few costly late turnovers and some crucial missed free throws late also played heavily into why the Sun Devils were able to catch the Cougars.

"We had plenty of opportunities, we just didn't capitalize on them," BYU coach Dave Rose said.