[The New Guy]

Here's the situation:

Semifinals of a pretty prestigious tournament for bragging rights in the city. A1 makes a free throw to go ahead by six points with 27.1 seconds remaining in the second half. B1 rolls the ball towards half court as B2 runs up along with it so the clock doesn't start right away (we've all seen this). I am the old lead transitioning to new trail as the ball goes up the floor waiting to chop the clock in. Just as the ball nears half court and BEFORE B2 touches the ball (he's not even close to bending down for it), the coach for team B is granted a timeout by the new lead official.

Halfway through the timeout, an assistant coach for team B asks where the ball is going to be taken out. I tell him that it will be on the baseline where the throw in originated. He goes nuts and the head coach ends up going nuts. He wanted the ball at half court. I calmly explained to him that since the ball was never touched on the court, it is as if the timeout was called before the throw in ever took place. He can't have the ball advanced to half court without the clock running at the expense of his timeout.

He persisted for a minute and went back to his huddle. He wasn't happy about it, but he didn't make a fuss about it any more than the initial shock. His team ended up losing.

My questions for this group are:

A) should the timeout have even been granted?
B) since the timeout was granted, was I correct in putting the throw-in back on the baseline?
C) after the timeout, can B1 run the baseline on the throw-in (I told him he could, but there was no full-court press)?
D) has anyone had this before? I obviously never have.

Thanks ...