[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Our older son was competing in the first H.S. swim meet of his career and while I was watching the meet before he was to swim, I thought of a play that will show that NFHS R5-S9-A4 takes precedence over R5-S9-A1.

B1 is Team B’s best three-point field goal shooter, but he is not one of the five best defensive players on Team B. Team B scores a field goal to cut Team A’s lead to one point. Team A inbounds the ball and B2 immediately commits a common foul against A1. Team A is in the double bonus. A1’s first free throw attempt is successful. B6, a much better defensive player than B1, replaces B1 after A1’s first free throw attempt. Coach B has B1 remain at the Scorer’s/Timer’s Table. Coach B wants B1 to replace B6 at the first opportunity to re-enter the game. A2 commits a free throw violation during A1’s second free throw attempt. Team B is awarded a designated throw-in on the end line in its backcourt because of A2 free throw violation. B2 will attempt the throw-in for Team B. Team A has 7’-00” tall A3 guard B2. The Trail official places the ball at B2’s disposal and keeps one arm raised with an open hand to signify that the clock shall remain stopped. B2 releases the ball in an attempt to pass the ball over A3. A3 blocks B2’s pass back against the wall behind B2. The ball goes from A3’s hands to the wall so quickly that the Trail official cannot do anything but to sound his whistle to stop play because of the out-of-bounds violation by A3; the Trail’s raised hand is never lowered.

From this point, the play has four different options. The game clock’s visible display can be shown in either (1) whole seconds (GC-1), or (2) tenths of a second (GC-2). The game clock controller unit has a LCD that shows the Timer how much time is on the game clock; the LCD shows the time in tenths of a second no matter which of the two types of visible displays are used.

When the game clock was stopped for B2’s common foul, the game clock with the visible display in whole seconds shows 11 seconds, and the game clock with the visible display in tenths of a second shows 11.9 seconds. The LCD display on both controllers show 00:11.9 second. We now have the four plays below:


After the Trail sounds his whistle:

Play A-1: The visible display of GC-1 shows 11 seconds and the LCD shows 11.9 seconds.

Play A-2: The visible display of GC-2 shows 11.9 seconds and the LCD shows 11.9 seconds.

Play B-1: The visible display of GC-1 shows 11 seconds and the LCD shows 11.1 seconds.

Play B-2: The visible display of GC-2 shows 11.1 seconds and the LCD shows 11.1 seconds.

Can B1 re-enter the game and replace B6 before Team B attempts its throw-in due to A3’s out-of-bounds violation?