My understanding of the rules under NFHS are that we are allow to put time back on the clock in the event the clock was started or stoped incorrectly.
Common practice is to watch a play on the court, and when a whistle blows a play dead, to glance at the clock to verify that it has stopped. Sometimes all the crew sneaks a glance, sometimes nobody glances. Most crews become more aware of the clock at the end of quarters, halves and games.
With all of that said, if the ref glances at the clock, he/she now has definite knowledge of a time when the ball was dead. If the referee then notices the clock reading differently than the time of the glance (which was after the whistle), the ref can then determine if a timing mistake was made. If the time on the clock is more than one second different than the time that was on the clock at when the glance took place, a timing error has occurred and should be corrected. If the time difference is less than or equal to one second, no correction can be made.
Stopping the Clock errors
Situation: Ref blows whistle on an oob play, and does NOT glance immediately at the clock, but does so at a later point and notices the clock running and reading 5:45. The clock operator stops the clock later and it reads 5:39. The ref estimates that the time between his/her whistle and the glance was 5 seconds. Ruling: The ref may only put time back on the clock to the point where definite knowledge was obtained or 5:45. The ref may not put the "estimated" time back on the clock also.
Situation: Same play only the clock operator stops the clock with 5:44 on the clock. Ruling: No correction can be made.
Starting the Clock errors
On an inbounds play after a made bucket by team B and a time out by team A, Team A is ready to inbound the ball after the time out along the end line. There is 0:02.1 seconds left in the period. A1 (oob) passes the ball to A2 who is oob also. The clock operator erroneously starts the clock when A2 receives the pass oob. A2 then passes the ball to A3 who is in bounds down the length of the court. The ref notices the clock started and whistles the play dead. Ruling: 2.1 seconds is put back on the clock and team A will the redo non-spot throw-in from the endline after the ref gives a lecture to the clock operator.
Same play except the horn blows signaling the end of the period instead of a referee whistle. Ruling: Same corrective action takes place.
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