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This is just my opinion, but I think the "I was staying with the other 7" is a copout. Our job as officials is to call the obvious and we need to referee competitive matchups. Now I wasn't there and the post does not mention whether there were problems between players or a potential situation that may have erupted between players earlier in the game, but if not, in 2 whistle, the trail has to help out with the play. In a varsity game the officials should know by the 4th quarter who the hotheads are, or if there are any, most of the time there won't be any hotheads and 9999 times out of 10000 plays like this, the rest of the players are moving up the court and nothing happens. Again, the trail has no competitive matchups in the backcourt, so basically by staying 70 feet away, he's officiating dead space while leaving his partner hanging out to dry on backside help. Plus, from the long range description here, the new trail was not watching the players, but was watching the play from a distance where he couldn't help. Too many things can happen with 2 defenders, the trail must be in position to help out with the call (and who's to say he can't also look back at the other players while sprinting into position to make the call).
Plus, judging by the comment the rook made, the reaction of the crowd and the lack of help shook his confidence. Hopefully it didn't affect him the rest of the game.
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