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Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee
There's an old thread around somewhere on this one. Iirc somebody dug up a reference saying that there is no penalty(FT violation or "T") if a team was down to one player and couldn't fill the spot.
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Actually, the story is even better than that.
I personally wrote a post on this forum a few years ago about a team getting down to one player, but being ahead. Since they have a chance to win, the game is allowed to continue. Now the team with only one player commits a foul and FTs will be awarded. I posited that as a ploy to avoid losing the opposing coach could instruct his FT shooter to purposely miss the try, but make the ball contact the ring. Since at the time, the rules stated that it was a violation by the defense to not fill the bottom TWO lane spaces, the shooter would automatically get another try and no time could come off the clock. This process could continue infinitely and the game theoretically would never end.
So, someone sent my post to the NFHS rules committee and they made the ruling that a team cannot be penalized for failing to occupy BOTH lane spaces if only one player remained in the game. That player does have to occupy one of the spaces and the opponent may NOT occupy the other.
Here is the NFHS interp:
2003-04 NFHS BASKETBALL RULES INTERPRETATIONS
SITUATION 2: Team A started the game with seven team members in the scorebook. All team members foul out but one, A1. Team A is leading by eight points with 38 seconds left in the game with a chance to win. A1 fouls B2 with Team B in the bonus. A1 occupies one of the first marked lane spaces for the free throw, with no teammate to occupy the other required space. RULING: By rule, a team may continue to play with one player if that team has an opportunity to win the game. Accordingly, since Team A can only put one player in the required free-throw marked lane space, it cannot be penalized. Further, Team B may not occupy the first marked lane space left vacant by Team A. (3-1-1 Note, 8-1-3)