Manasquan also denied in Superior Court

An Ocean County Superior Court judge did his best Dikembe Mutombo impression, denying Manasquan High School’s court filing on Thursday to postpone the NJSIAA Group 2 championship game.

Manasquan is fighting to have the controversial call at the end of its state semifinal boys basketball game against Camden overturned and the Monmouth County high school declared the winners.

Judge Mark Troncone ruled that the Superior Court did not have the jurisdiction to prevent Saturday’s state title game — slated to take place at Jersey Mike’s Arena at noon — from occurring as scheduled until the Department of Education and an appellate court have their voices heard, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Manasquan had filed an appeal petition with the DOE on Thursday over the NJSIAA’s original denial of its appeal earlier this week and the attorney for the school, Michael Gross, told reporters outside of court that he had hoped a decision would be made by Friday for there to be time for an appellate court to hear the case.

“The district and the students in the district are deserved of getting the right outcome to this incident. So we are taking all these necessary steps to try to right the wrong that was done,” Gross told reporters following Troncone’s ruling.

The high school basketball controversy has garnered national interest after Manasquan hit a buzzer-beater at the end of Tuesday’s game to defeat Camden and seemingly advance to the championship game.

Nevertheless, the basket that was originally ruled good was taken away after the officials huddled and ruled that the shot by Griffin Linstra didn’t leave his hands in time, handing Camden a 46-45 win.

Outrage over the call has only intensified after replays showed the ball had clearly left Linstra’s hands before the buzzer and the basket should have counted, and the NJSIAA itself has even admitted that the official who overturned the call said that the shot should have counted.

In a statement, the New Jersey high school athletics governing body said that it understood Manasquan’s frustration but the organization’s bylaws don’t allow for video review.

Manasquan will continue to fight and Gross said that time needs to be given for the DOE or the appellate division to “make a decision that we should be playing on Saturday.”

Camden still slated to play Arts High School from Newark in the title game, but Newark public schools superintendent Roger Leon offered to delay the game in a statement to NJ.com in order to “allow time for the court to issue a correct, full and fair decision.”

Lawyers for Camden school district ripped the way that Mansquan was handling the situation on Thursday, with attorney Lou Cappelli Jr. calling the opposing district’s actions “ridiculous.”