SAN DIEGO — The Charleston player most reluctant to criticize the referees Friday night was the one at the wrong end of a controversial no call.

Only after some prodding did sophomore guard Grant Riller admit that he believes Auburn’s Bryce Brown fouled him on his attempt at a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the dying seconds of the Cougars’ 62-58 first-round NCAA tournament loss.

“Me personally, I thought it was a foul,” Riller said, “but it’s not my job to worry about the calls.”

With senior guard Joe Chealey hobbled by a sprained ankle, there was no doubt who 13th-seeded Charleston coach Earl Grant would turn to trailing fourth-seeded Auburn by three points with 13 seconds left in the game. Grant wanted the ball in the hands of Riller, a sophomore guard who not only leads the Cougars in scoring but also shoots 40.3 percent from behind the arc.

Riller’s intention as he dribbled down court was to “create a little bit of space and get a three off.” While he tried to be diplomatic about the non-call, his teammates were adamant that Brown caught Riller on the arm and that was why the ball fell shy of the rim.

Said guard Marquise Pointer, The defender got all of his hand.”

Said guard Cameron Johnson, “It was 15 feet short and the defender was nowhere close to the ball. It was clearly a foul, but we felt like we were playing 5-on-8. I’m not going to be shy about that.”

While the no-call was a frustrating way for Charleston to lose, it was far from the only reason the Cougars fell short in their upset bid. They committed 21 turnovers against Auburn’s aggressive pressure defense and sank only 7 of 14 free throws, squandering several chances to draw closer late in the game.

Auburn shot a dreadful 5 of 24 from behind the arc, but the Tigers got a pair of big 3-pointers from Brown and fellow guard Jared Harper in the final two minutes to turn a two-point deficit into a four-point lead. That was just enough to prevent Auburn from becoming the third No. 4 seed to fall in the first round of the NCAA tournament, joining Arizona and Wichita State.

We’ll never know how the game might have turned out if Riller had gotten his potential game-tying 3-pointer off cleanly, but his teammates have faith it would have fallen.

“I have no doubt at all,” Pointer said. “He has made plenty of them.”

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Jeff Eisenberg is a college basketball writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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