Very rarely is the phrase "the refs cost us the game" ever used in a way that's not hyperbolic, but it accurately describes what went down in a Division III basketball game on Wednesday. The scenario was as follows: St. Olaf was down just one point against visiting Augsburg with just 0.3 seconds left on the game clock. The team had one last chance to get a prayer off from an inbounds play that began under their opponent's basket. Those watching would have been forgiven had they assumed a loss was a forgone conclusion.

But then the incredible magic that comes with college sports briefly kicked in. After a couple seconds of searching for an open man, Dominic Bledsoe tossed up a high-arcing pass to the middle of the paint. Senior guard Troy Diggins Jr. made a daring leap into the air where and tapped the ball towards the basket as if he was making a volleyball set. The effort was just enough to sink the game-winner and cause an uproarious celebration in the bleachers. Unfortunately, there was one problem: the referee standing next to Bledsoe had determined the shot came after the buzzer and waved it off. With no video replay available to review the call, Augsburg escaped with the win.

Since basketball game clocks started consistently showing tenths of a second in the final minute of play, the rules have been pretty clear about what kind of shots are allowed in different moments of time -- shout-out to Trent Tucker for that. Here's how the rule reads in this season's NCAA men's basketball rulebook: 

In any period, when the game clock displays 10ths of seconds and play is to be resumed by a throw-in or a free throw when 3/10ths (.3) of a second or less remains on the game clock, a player may not gain control of the ball and attempt a try for a field goal. Such player can only score a field goal by means of a tap of a pass or of a missed free throw.

Yet, even with it being very clear, on video review, that Diggins Jr. tapped the ball into the net before the clock expired, that wasn't how the referee under the basket saw it. As a result of officials often getting the final say in these kinds of situations, that man's opinion is unfortunately the only one that matters as far as actual results are concerned.

If there's a silver lining in any of this, it's the fact that St. Olaf is located in Minnesota, a state so well-versed in remarkable sports losses that this kind of thing likely just rolled off everyone's back within a day.