The three officials whose errors marred the end of the St. John's-Rutgers Big East tournament game have voluntarily withdrawn from the rest of the tournament, the conference said.

The three officials -- Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Earl Walton -- came under heavy criticism for failing to officiate until the final buzzer of the second-round game at Madison Square Garden.

St. John's beat Rutgers 65-63 on Wednesday. But Rutgers should have had another possession when the Red Storm's Justin Brownlee, after stealing a pass from Rutgers' Gilvydas Biruta, traveled while celebrating and stepped out of bounds with 1.7 seconds remaining, according to the ESPN broadcast.

Brownlee then hurled the ball into the stands as his coach, Steve Lavin, was walking down the sideline to shake the hand of Rutgers coach Mike Rice. By that time, the officials had left the court.

Of the game-ending sequence, John Adams, the NCAA's national coordinator of men's basketball officiating, told ESPN.com's Andy Katz: "Not officiating to the end of a game is unacceptable."

Higgins made the initial gesture toward the crew's removal from the tournament, a source with knowledge of the situation told Katz. Higgins approached Big East officials on Thursday morning and said he wished to step aside to avoid becoming the story and detracting attention from the games.

Conference officials agreed it was a good move. In a meeting, officials told Burr and Walton what Higgins had said and suggested that they, too, should step aside. The source said the decision was "amicable" and the two refs were fine with it. Later in the day Thursday, Burr and Walton were seen sitting watching the games in the Big East box at Madison Square Garden.

In a statement, Big East conference commissioner John Marinatto said the officials withdrew "in the best interests of everyone involved -- including coaches, student-athletes, game officials and Big East member institutions."

"With three days of competition remaining, it is our hope that everyone will now focus on our outstanding teams and the exciting games ahead," he said.