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Published Wednesday March 22, 2006 Rasmussen denies incident at CU game BY STEVEN PIVOVAR
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

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		»	Miami ends Creighton season in wild fashion
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		»	2006 NIT

Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen has denied he was involved in any kind of incident with game officials following the controversial ending to the Bluejays' one-point NIT basketball loss to the Miami Hurricanes on Monday night.

"There was no altercation between (myself) and any of the officials," Rasmussen said Tuesday.

He declined to comment further.

The coordinator of officials for the National Invitation Tournament declined to comment Tuesday on the report he received from the referees who worked the game. Art Hyland said it was against his policy to share reports from his officials with others.

"I talked to them about what happened at the end of the game," said Hyland, who also is the coordinator of officials for the Big East Conference. "But I never discuss what's been told to me."

The World-Herald contacted Hyland and several NIT officials for comment about what happened on the court and off it at the end of the Bluejays' 53-52 loss.

Hyland referred questions about any postgame matters to Jack Powers, the NIT's head of contract matters. Powers, based in New York, did not immediately return two calls.

C.M. Newton, head of the NIT's selection committee, said he had talked with Powers about what had happened at the end of the game.

"From the word I got from Jack, the security personnel and the Creighton administrators handled the situation about as well as it could have been handled," Newton said. "I don't have any knowledge of any incidents that might have happened after the game.

"I do know from talking to our people that they felt the university stepped up to assure the safety of the officials."

The Hurricanes scored the winning point on a Guillermo Diaz free throw with 2.6 seconds to play after Creighton's Dane Watts was called for a blocking foul. That call, along with a no call when contact was made on Johnny Mathies' final shot at the buzzer, contributed to an ugly ending to Creighton's season.

Creighton coach Dana Altman chased after the officiating crew of Eugene Crawford, Lamont Simpson and Ronnie Tyburski as they raced off the court, escorted by three security personnel, to a chorus of boos.

Some fans threw objects, including coins, water bottles and drinking cups, onto the court. Miami coach Frank Haith, who said he once saw a player suffer a broken nose in a similar incident, hustled his team to the locker room.

Altman later apologized for his actions, saying he was frustrated that his players' season was over.

"That's where your frustration boils over and you act like a fool," Altman said at his postgame press conference. "That's what I did, and there's no sense to that."

The controversial ending created a buzz in chat rooms and local talk radio shows Tuesday. Fans still steamed about Crawford's call of a block on Watts instead of a charge on Diaz might want to take note of a postgame comment by Miami forward Anthony King.

"All I know was it was so loud, the ref kept blowing his whistle," King told the Miami Herald. "I thought the call was a charge, but he called a block."

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