Townsville import Casey Calvary was suspended for one NBL game despite successfully beating a serious charge of putting a referee in "fear of impending violence".

Tribunal chairman Ken Masden found the German-born forward guilty of a lesser charge of misconduct for his aggressive confrontation with referee Brett Campbell in Monday night's loss to Perth at Challenge Stadium.

The finding, which rules Calvary out of Saturday night's clash with Melbourne, disappointed Townsville chief executive Rick Gibson, who presented a Perry Mason-like defence.

Masden conceded contact was only caused by the referee putting out his arm, but believed it was a result of the player's "totally inappropriate" actions.

"After having heard all the evidence I find he (Calvary) is guilty of misconduct toward the referee," said Masden.

"It's clear the player bore down on the referee in a most inappropriate manner and that the referee put out his hand to hold the player off him."

While Masden said the evidence did not substantiate the charge against Calvary, he used his powers to find him guilty of misconduct.

During his evidence, referee Campbell said Calvary had walked directly toward him in an aggressive manner after he called him for a foul.

Campbell said he then hit Calvary with a technical foul for making contact with him.

Under cross examination from Gibson, Campbell admitted at no stage did he feel threatened by Calvary.

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