Someone call a cop.

The Stony Brook University men’s basketball team was robbed in the biggest game in school history, and the culprit was wearing black and white stripes.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be the first to say that the Seawolves fell apart and John Holland had a monster second half, scoring 23 points and going 8 for 9 at the free throw line.

But the most pivotal of those free throws—the two that came with 2.4 seconds left in the game and gave Boston its first and final lead—shouldn’t have been taken at all.

I’ve been over the tape at least 10 times, from both angles that ESPN provided. There’s no way that the foul called on Dallis Joyner—originally signaled a push—was in any way legitimate.

Consider the scene. The score is tied. Boston guard D.J. Irving dribbles to his right with 5.7 seconds to go. He stops, and passes it to exactly who everyone knew he was going to: America East Player of the Year John Holland.

Holland was the hot hand, but more importantly had hit 8-of-9 from the free throw line up to that point. I’m fairly certain that head coach Steve Pikiell sent the team in with instructions to make Holland take the most difficult shot without fouling him.

Pre Preboye was playing deny defense on Holland,  got sucked out, and Holland made a backdoor cut and Irving hit him with a nice pass. Joyner slid down on help defense and made himself as big as possible, arms extended overhead.

Holland saw this, and drove right for Joyner, trying to draw a foul. Joyner did his best matador impression and swiveled his body to avoid contact.

At that moment, Holland, on at least his third or fourth step, makes small contact with Joyner’s leg, and the ref wanders out on the court like he’s looking for his missing guide dog, which he obviously left in the room because of the court’s no animal policy. It’s too bad, really, because it might have called a better game.

The referee, in perfect position, signals a push, throwing his arms out in front of him. But Joyner was a) moving backwards, and b) moving backwards with his arms raised over his head. How you get a push call out of that is beyond me.

Maybe he meant blocking, even though he clearly didn’t signal that. Even then, Joyner was in a legal defensive position and wasn’t impeding the out-of-control—and possibly traveling—Holland, who, in a move favored by veteran soccer players, left his left leg behind to sell the foul.

Any way you look at it, the referee should have swallowed his whistle and let the game go to overtime. It wasn’t just a no-call, it was a textbook no-call. At best, it was a terrible call; at worst, another example of referees trying to decide games that should be decided by the players on the court.

A lot of positives came out of a season that looked all rainclouds early on. Stony Brook had a fantastic late run, wining four straight before the title game, including an incredible upset victory over regular-season champions Vermont in the semifinals. Some young players stepped up, and senior Chris Martin capped a fantastic Seawolves career with some great performances once his injury had healed. Congratulations are in order to the team.

But somewhere, I hope that nameless America East official is having trouble sleeping at night.