Hardaway: Late foul calls ‘comical’

CINCINNATI — Only seconds earlier, Precious Achiuwa hauled in the 16th of his career-high 17 rebounds.

It came off a missed free throw from Cincinnati big man Chris Vogt in a 74-74 game with 4:12 left in overtime. Twentytwo seconds later, Penny Hardaway had had enough. Following a lengthy-byhis-standards exchange with a member of the officiating crew, the Memphis Tigers coach whipped his custom-made suit jacket off and pitched it to a waiting graduate assistant behind the bench.

Hardaway’s plea came after he thought Alex Lomax was fouled by Vogt while attempting a layup. No call was made, the Bearcats drove the length of the court, Keith Williams made his layup and Lester Quinones was whistled for a blocking foul.

Cincinnati never trailed again, using the momentum swing to knock Memphis out 92-86 in overtime.

“It’s comical, really,” Hardaway said. “I thought that A-LO got fouled by Chris Vogt going to the basket. The ref was like, ‘I’m not going to bail him out.’ We called a pick-and-roll because we knew Chris had to come up and his foot speed is not fast enough. A-LO got by him.

(Vogt) bumped him almost out of bounds and the ref said, ‘We’re not going to bail your guy out for jumping into him.’”

Quinones did not discuss specifics but was also not pleased.

“I mean, it was definitely a lot of bad calls today,” he said. “But the referees are going to miss calls. They’re human. We’re not going to get every call. We’re on the road and that just makes it tougher for (the referees).”

Achiuwa, Lomax and Lance Thomas fouled out, while Malcolm Dandridge and Damion Baugh each finished with four personal fouls.

Hardaway said he would not dwell on the officiating.

“It’s life, man,” he said.

“I don’t whine about the referees or cry about the referees. We have to continue to play this hard for the rest of the season and that’s all that matters to me.”

Memphis is back in action at 2 p.m. Sunday (ESPN) when they travel to Hartford, Conn., to face Uconn at the XL Center.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.

AARON DOSTER/USA TODAY SPORTS Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway reacts in the game against Cincinnati.