[Rufus]

I've had a situation come up in pretty much every game I've done and for the first time I questioned my approach after a game last night.

Situation: Team A is on offense and just put up a shot. B1 has blocked out A1 and both have jumped for the rebound. B1's hands are straight up and not coming down. A1 pokes the ball from behind and the ball comes shooting out of bounds. Ball awarded to Team B for a throw in.

Pretty straight-forward, yes? Selling this call is not easy, however, because all anyone sees is B1 in front of A1 so the ball must have been poked out by B1.

My approach to this has been twofold: (1) determine who poked it out first then (2) back that up with what was seen (i.e., B1's hands stayed up reaching for the rebound - How could the ball have been poked out on a line unless it was done by A1 behind? If it had glanced off of B1's hands and they kept their arms up for the rebound the ball wouldn't have come off in a line drive).

How do you all approach this situation? I understand that if you don't have definitive knowledge of who knocked it out you go first to your partner to see what they saw and then to the AP arrow if neither have definitive knowledge. I'm more interested in knowing your experiences with this situation and any different ways of approaching it.

Thanks in advance.