Yanick Moreira on goaltending call in loss: 'It's all my fault'
By Jason Rowan
The SMU Mustangs were upset in their opening-round game against the UCLA Bruins by a score of 60-59 in one of the most shocking ways imaginable.
SMU’s Yanick Moreira was whistled for a controversial goaltending call on a three-point attempt by Bryce Alford with 13 seconds remaining in the game.
With the Bruins down by two points, Alford’s off-target shot appeared to possibly just nick the rim as Moreira rose for the rebound. Officials determined it was goaltending and credited Alford, who drained four three-pointers in the last three-plus minutes of the game — the last courtesy of the call on Moreira.
Afterward, the senior Mustangs center was understandably devastated.
Given his integral but unfortunate role in the ending of the game, it’s not surprising the loss perhaps hit Moreira, who became emotional during his postgame presser, the hardest.
“It’s all my fault,” Moreira said, via the New York Post. “I should have let the ball hit the rim. I take the blame on myself. I shouldn’t have made that mistake. As a senior, you can’t make those mistakes at the end of the game.”
SMU head coach Larry Brown was similarly devastated by what had just transpired.
“I never saw a game end like that,” he said. “That’s pretty heartbreaking.”
The Mustangs did have one last chance to win the game, but two shots in the waning seconds didn’t find the net.
Brown probably put it in its proper perspective — at least from SMU’s vantage point — when he said, “I’m sick for those kids.”
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