Sorry for the title. Couldn't think of anything better to use as an attention grabber
From a JV Boys game earlier tonight/yesterday evening, with team A visitors and team B home. I am scorekeeper for A:
At 2:53 mark of 3Q, a jump ball is called, and a scuffle breaks out on the floor (didn't see it start). Once the scuffle is stopped, the referees come over to the table, without getting together away from everyone to sort everything out. This leads to coaches from both sides starting to lobby and politick for favorable calls in the situation. These are very clearly two inexperienced officials who probably hadn't dealt with anything like this before and they were seemingly bewlidered by the coaches. During this time, one of the referees for the Varsity game to follow, who was standing up against the wall behind the table, in street clothes, comes to the table and tells the game officials that they need to back away to mid-court and confer, then come back to report.
After conferring for about 5 minutes, they come back to the table, but are having difficulty reporting because Team B coaches are in their faces. Varsity referee gives some more "procedural" advice, and then the game refs go back to midcourt. After another 2 or 3 minutes, they return and report that single flagrant technical fouls are being issued to A3 and A21, along with B15 and B23, and that all four were ejected. At this point, the Varsity Ref tells the game refs that they need to get A25 for leaving the bench.
This is where I see a problem. As it was, A25 didn't "leave the bench" in the first place. A25 was waiting to sub at the table when the jump-ball was called. At the moment I saw that he looked like he might wander onto the court, I stood up and reached across the table and physically pulled him back onto the "X" and told him to kneel there until everything had stopped, so that nobody would think he left the bench. However, even if someone HAD left the bench on either side, is it an accepted practice for an official who just happens to be there to directly intercede in making an observation like that? I'm having a difficult time believeing that it is.
IMHO, I don't really see a problem with the ref giving the procedural advice, and actually think it was a good thing that he was there to do that, otherwise I have no doubts that the situation would have continued to spiral out of control. However, I feel that the rules intend for the officials on the court to administer the game based on what they observe, not based on what other do, no matter who the others are, and no matter their intentions.
Am I off base on any of this? Do any of you officials out there know of or encountered anything like this that might be deemed as an acceptable practice? Thanks in advance for your responses!!