GHSA admits basketball goal issues in state finals

The Georgia High School Association released a statement late Saturday night addressing the controversial issue from last week’s state championship basketball games at the Macon Coliseum.

The organization acknowledged the widely circulated mistake — that the basketball goals were not placed far enough into the playing area — and decided that none of the results of the championship games would be altered.

The error obviously caused longer free throws and 3-pointers, but also resulted in numerous players landing out of bounds on rebounds that typically wouldn’t happen.

“The goals were the same distance into the court at both ends of the floor,” GHSA executive director Gary Phillips said in the release. “The playing conditions were exactly the same for both teams on the court and for all of the 14 championship games that were played. So I can’t see any reason we would consider changing the outcomes.

“Only one coach even mentioned a possible problem, and my basketball staff watched the games closely and did not notice any appreciable effect on the shooting or the play of any of the teams. Some of the teams even shot extremely well from both the floor and the free throw line. But, overall, it looked like typical championship play.

“While this certainly was not an ideal situation or one that we wanted to have happen, we think the conditions were fair for all the teams. And, more importantly, it was the same for all the teams. We have plans to make sure this never happens again, but we have no plans to change anything that happened this week in Macon.”