Strange Sideline Inbounds play

[zeedonk]

And speaking of men's rec leagues....

This happened last night- I'm trail administering sideline throw in. A1 gets the ball and begins searching for a teammate for inbounds. B1 is guarding A1 and there is proper distance between the two. Both take a step towards e/o and then notice they are nearly nose to nose and look at each other. I'm watching and see no violation so I continue my count.

B1 starts hacking at the ball, and amazingly, hits nothing but air (these guys are BAD) A1 notices this and reaches onto the court and holds the ball above B1's head. I can't believe that B1 hasn't fouled A1, so I dart my eyes back to B1's flailing arms-still nothing. As I moved my eyes, I thought I saw A1 touch the ball to B1's head, but I wasn't sure. Yes, all this happened in 5 seconds...

A1 then inbounds and off we go. As we go, A1 asks why B1 didn't get a T for reaching in, I say b/c he didn't hit anything and once A1 moved the ball onto the court, it's in play and B1 can grab for it. B1 comes by and says, Hey, he hit me on the head with the ball- I say, I saw him place the ball over you but didn't see him touch you with it. Disaster averted...

Question is- If A1 DID touch B1 with the ball, I'd call out of bounds violation on A1 as he was standing OOB while the ball contacted the player in bounds (right?) Or should I have killed the play when I saw them too close and moved them both away? Preventive officiating or improperly stopping the play?

Thanks,
Z