Confusion reigned in the final, frantic seconds at UC Santa Barbara’s Thunderdome on Saturday night.

Ultimately it was UCSB that emerged with a stunning 75-74 victory after rallying from 13 points down late in the second half, sending UH home from its four-game road trip in a daze.

With Hawaii trailing 75-72 and the clock winding down, guard Isaac Fleming initially appeared to tie the game up with a desperation 3-pointer from the corner over three UCSB defenders with 1.1 seconds left.

Members of both teams and the ESPNU TV crew thought Fleming’s shot was a 3 when it improbably found the net. The broadcast displayed the score as 75-75 as UCSB moved to inbound the ball.

UH and UCSB played it out as if the game was tied. UH did not try to foul to extend the game, and UCSB’s Michael Bryson heaved a three-quarter-court shot to prevent it from going to OT.

After Bryson’s shot missed, game officials Michael Reed, Daryl Gelinas and Jeremy Dente huddled around replay monitors and spotted Fleming’s right foot on the 3-point arc, and called the game over in favor of the Gauchos as the crowd celebrated.

Lost on both teams in the moment of Fleming’s shot was that the official stationed on the near sideline actually correctly called it a 2 right away, and the review after the game was to determine whether to uphold the 75-74 score, not wipe off a point from UH.

The scoreboards in the arena displayed the score as 75-74 right after the shot, according to a UCSB spokesperson.

After landing back in Honolulu on Sunday, UH coach Benjy Taylor was still getting over the loss, which kept alive UH’s trend of alternating wins and losses in league play. He felt the officials should have stopped the game immediately after the Fleming shot to check it.

"When it’s questionable like that, if it’s that close it’s supposed to be viewed right then," Taylor said. "They didn’t do that, they handed him the ball and they inbounded it. We’re running around saying it’s a 3, they’re saying it’s a 2."

Taylor expressed disappointment that his team could not play the last 1.1 seconds over knowing it was down a point, when it could go for a quick steal or foul to stop the clock.

"You know, it’s tough. It’s tough," Taylor said. "It was a tough situation. I think (the officials) got caught up in it a little bit and didn’t handle it the right way."

Gauchos coach Bob Williams was also confused by the sequence.

"I honestly couldn’t see (the shot) from where I was," said Williams in a UCSB release. "Until the guy at the replay monitor looked over and signaled that it was a (2), I really had no idea."

Taylor said he would not file a complaint about the game’s conclusion.

"It was crazy, but you know, the officials called a good game. It wasn’t that (why we lost)," he said.

Thomas Yoshida, a longtime NCAA basketball official, said the officials at UCSB handled the game’s finish the right way.

"The officials followed the rules based on how it’s written, and secondly there is no recourse at this point," Yoshida said.

Barring conflicting calls between officials in the moment of the shot — which would call for an immediate review — Yoshida said the play may be reviewed at the next dead ball — in this case, the end of the game.

Yoshida said the officials could have reviewed it right after the shot with 1.1 seconds left had either team called a timeout. But UH was out of timeouts, having called its last with 14.8 seconds left.

"They could have (blown it dead themselves), but I think it sounds like they were definitive," Yoshida said. "If one official said yes (3) and the other would have said no (2), then they definitely would have killed it."

UH (16-9, 4-5) now prepares for Thursday’s home game against another fifth-place team in UC Riverside (11-12, 4-5).