Whose Ball?

[Rick Durkee]

Two whistle crew. NFHS rules.

I was the trail during a frontcourt, end line throw-in. The throw-in went to A1 who was in the frontcourt, near the division line. The throw-in "squirted" through the hands of A1 and into the backcourt. In my opinion, A1 never had control. A1 pursued the ball with B1 about 10 feet behind him. A1 caught up with the ball near the top of the three-point circle and, apparently believing it would be a backcourt violation (And frustration? And not knowing what else to do?), batted the ball toward his frontcourt and right to B1. At some time after A1 batted the ball, my partner blew his whistle. I looked at him, and he called a backcourt violation. Already looking appropriately sheepish, my partner approached me and said something like, "That wasn't backcourt, was it?" I told to him that I didn't believe it was because I didn't think Team A had control of the ball. My partner acknowledged that he had blown it. I decided that my partner had blown his whistle before B1 had control of the ball, and we used the AP arrow to determine possession. I assume that was correct. My question is, what if B1 did clearly have control of the ball when my partner blew his whistle? Should we have gone to the arrow because the ball was dead when my partner thought a violation occurred? Or, do should we have given it to Team B because they had control at the time of the "inadvertent whistle"?