'It stings": Phoenix star opens up on free-throw decision

He was caught up in one of the most discussed refereeing decisions in Round 1 of the Hungry Jack's NBL27 Season, and now South East Melbourne's Skylar Mays has opened up on the call against Tasmania.

With 32 seconds left in the game and the Phoenix trailing by two points, D'Shawn Schwartz stole the ball off Nick Marshall, which led to the latter committing a Disruptive Foul.

This decision awarded the Phoenix two free throws and possession.

But instead of Schwartz stepping to the line, fellow import Mays attempted to shoot the shots from the charity stripe.

But under the new FIBA rules, the NBL explained why the call was overturned, and the JackJumpers handed the ball.

"On the free throw incident, rule 45.4.3 applies where the wrong player attempts a free throw," Head of NBL Referees Scott Butler said in a statement.

"The free throw is cancelled, and the ball is awarded to the opposition for a throw-in from the free-throw line extended, which is what occurred."

Now, on The Phoenix Files podcast, Mays has opened up on the situation from his perspective.

"I wouldn't have walked up there if I didn't think it was anybody's free throw," Mays said.

"Obviously I think D'Shawn's capable of making a free throw, but as a guy who wants to be the dependent on at the end of the games, I wanted to step up there confidently and put our team in a position to tie the ballgame up.

"That's genuinely what I thought was going to happen.

"I was obviously wrong, and I feel like it cost us. It stings right now, but I'm going to learn from it.

"Hopefully, we don't end up in that situation again.

"As a team, we had the maturity to understand that we put ourselves in that situation in the first place, by how we handled the second half.

"Having a good group of guys around me, putting their arm around me after that and not making me feel like it was all on me, it meant the world to me."

Mays and his Phoenix, who are 1-1 on the season, will look to rebound in Thursday's Throwdown at John Cain Arena, tipping off at 7.30pm AEST, live on ESPN.