Colorado center Eddie Lampkin lays ball on Boise State forward Cam Martin after dunking on him, leading to double technical
The NCAA men’s tournament First Four matchup between the Colorado Buffaloes and Boise State Broncos has been a hotly contested battle. The first half has had its fair share of exciting moments and play from both programs. However, there was one moment when things got a little chippy between the two teams.
Colorado forward Eddie Lampkin made an impressive play on the left block near the out-of-bounds line to score the basket. But after the two-point make, the Colorado big man placed the ball in the lap of Boise State forward Cameron Martin. That prompted Martin to hurl the ball at Lampkin, resulting in a double technical.
Some fans were confused as to why the officiating crew called offsetting technical fouls. However, veteran official-turned-CBS-rules-analyst Gene Steratore explained why it was called as such.
“It appears to me when the ball comes through after the basket, 44 grabs the basketball — it kinda comes to him and lands — I was looking to see if he verbally said something,” said Steratore. “I couldn’t see but it didn’t appear to me as if he was saying something. But then, at that point, 31 has the ball, and he throws it back at him. I think that’s what they were reviewing to see if, then — the retaliation. This drop here could be a delay of game. The calling official calls a technical foul right away, as you can see. And I can see that action by 31 throwing the ball back at his opponent would definitely warrant a technical foul there. So they’ve offset it and going to the point of interruption that you said. No shots required.”
According to Steratore, not only was Lampkin the instigator by placing the ball in Martins’s lap, but his actions were likely deemed intimidating by the officiating crew, which is why his technical foul call was more than warranted, as he continued.
“Yeah, it could be determined to that,” he said when asked if Lampkin’s action could be viewed as an intimidating act. “Without a doubt, especially if he puts it down there and you know, you’ve been on the court, right? You just scored on somebody and now you’re looking over the top of them. So you can definitely read into that and they’re going to tie it up and give it to both as they did. We play on now. The personal fouls, as Spero said, I think are big as this game moves on.”
At halftime, Colorado led Boise State 26-24. If all the excitement in the first half is indicative of what to expect in the second, this first-four matchup for the right to face Florida in the first round will have an exciting finish.