[dkitch]

Under NFHS Rules

This issue came up in one of the games I was refereeing and I was unsure what to do. Player A1 is driving to the basket and goes up for a dunk. He hits the ball off of the rim and it shoots about 10 feet or so up into the air. To prevent injury to himself and player B2 who is now reasonably close to the basket, he hangs on the rim for a second or so. He releases the rim and, on its return to its original position, it contacts the ball, which then proceeds through the basket.

I ruled that it was offensive basket interference, under NFHS 4-6-4, which says that basket interference occurs when a player "pulls down a movable ring so that it contacts the ball before the ring returns to its original position"

However, I just checked, and under the exception to 4-6-2, it says that "Dunking or stuffing is legal and is not basket interference". The definition of a dunk in 4-16 is ambiguous with respect to this situation. Is the deflection of the ball into the air off of the rim considered part of the dunk, or not?

I know that with a normal try, the try doesn't end until it is successful, clearly unsuccessful, the ball touches the floor, or the ball becomes dead (NFHS 4-41-4) but does the same apply to a dunk?