Quote:
Originally Posted by fullor30
. . . worst call/non call for the year . . . this has to be my worst call in several years.
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Partners and I have been totally nailing every game, both V and sub-level this whole season...then IT happened.
Boys' 2-man frosh game, 5.3 seconds to go with team down by two with ball OOB needing to go the length of the floor past the defense who has been hacking away all game long up to this point. Break at a timeout to review coverage with partner -- good to go.
Ball inbounded. As trail, I'm responsible for throw-in under pressure; defense guarding the potential receivers of the throw-in; dribbler maintaining inbounds status while dribbling and tightroping up the sideline past both benches with screaming coaches; keeping an eye out for a hack-prone defensive team potentially hammering the guy all the way down a picket fenceline the length of the court; the fall-away, out-of-control three-point jumper with the shooter falling backwards out-of-bounds after release, the defense with a hand up in the shooter's face; the clock; and the horn.
Only lost track of one thing. With the scoreboard on the opposite side of the court, I had no visual awareness of the precise time elapsing, only the count in my head. The fans and the bench were screaming so loud the last thing I could hear was the horn.
Shot somehow swished through; gym goes nuts. Home team yelling "It counts! It counts!" Visitor players signalling, "No good! No good!"
I "thought"
it was good, but sure would've liked to be able to give a 100% sure ruling, as time shifted immediately afterwards into slow motion.
Hoping my partner could be of some definitive assistance, I dart over to where he was on the other side of the court at the low post with nothing whatsoever to do while all this was going on. A kind of blonde-deer-in-the-headlights look accompanied his response, "Go with your first inclination--I couldn't tell for sure; it was out of my area."
I did and banged it "Good!"
The parents running after us into the lockerroom might have been a clue. The AD successfully body-blocked them from chasing us down. He, we, and the retired AD in the lockerroom shared our amazement over how close it was.
Anybody detect one further step I could have taken for confirmation which I forgot to do?
Signing the scorebook signed for the JV game, the timekeeper, an alumni from back when I used to play, remarked when asked about it, "I wished you'd have come to me. It was close. But it was no good."
Lessons learned registered in notebook. Measures instilled so as to prevent likelihood of that happening again.
Recovered nicely from it since then. But it still serves as a memorable blip on the screen of an otherwise great season.