Quiz question

[Nevadaref]

Here is the play ruling. It doesn't state explicitly what I thought that it did as the period ending horn does not sound although the timer started the clock early in these situations.

From 2009-10 Interpretations:
SITUATION 11: Team B scores a goal to take the lead by one point. A1 immediately requests and is granted a timeout with three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Following the time-out, Team A is awarded the ball for a throw-in from anywhere along the end line. A1 passes the ball to A2, who is also outside the boundary; A2 passes the ball to A1 who is inbounds and running the length of the court. The timer mistakenly starts the clock when A2 touches A1’s pass while standing outside the boundary. An official notices the clock starting on A2’s touch (a), before A2 releases the throw-in pass to A1, (b), while A2’s throw-in pass is in flight to A1, or (c), as soon as A1 catches the throw-in pass. RULING: This is an obvious timing mistake and may be corrected. In (a) and (b), the official shall blow the whistle, stop play and direct the timer to put three seconds on the game clock. Since the throw-in had not ended, play is resumed with a Team A throw-in from anywhere along the end line. In (c), the official may put the correct time on the clock, but must make some allowance for the touching by A1 – likely 10ths of a second, if displayed. The ball is put in play nearest to where it was located when the stoppage occurred to correct the timing mistake. A “do over” is not permitted in (c), since the throw-in had ended. (4-36; 5-10-1)

[Nevadaref]

Here is the problem with this situation. We have a live ball in flight from a throw-in pass. The pass is untouched and yet the signal sounds indicating that time has expired in the quarter prior to the throw-in ending. Unfortunate as it is, the timer's signal makes the ball dead BY RULE. The same is true were an official to sound a whistle, whether deliberate or inadvertent. [I'm strongly of the opinion that the ruling for this play needs to be the same whether the horn sounded or an official blew a whistle while the pass was in flight after noticing that the clock was incorrectly running.]

The following are the supporting NFHS rules.

Rule 6, Section 7 DEAD BALL, article 6: ...time expires for a quarter or extra period

5-6-2 and 1-14 state that time expires when the signal illuminates or sounds.

The problem is not resetting the clock to 0.7 as we all agree that an obvious timing error occurred. The difficulty lies in deciding which team should be awarded possession.

There are two takes on this.
A. Team A (throwing team) was in team control when the when the ball became dead. Although this is a relatively recent rule change and another part of the POI rule instructs to resume with a free-throw or throw-in, if that activity was interrupted.

B. Team B (defending team) would be receiving the ball as the throw-in pass was heading OOB for a violation by the throwing team when the horn sounded.

Given these two choices, I have to select A and give the ball back to the throwing team. It may not seem fair, but it has rule support (note: not precise rules support though, see paragraph below). Option B has no rule support. It is just an official deciding what would be the fair thing to do and invoking 2-3. This opens several problem issues. The official has to consider whether the ball was going to go OOB, get intercepted by a defender, be caught by a teammate of the thrower, etc. To many what ifs here.

Curiously, in working through this scenario, I believe that I've discovered a gap in the NFHS rules.
Consider this situation: B3 makes a FT. A2 inbounds to A1 and he begins dribbling the ball up the court. Upon reaching the division line the covering official notices that the clock has not started. The official blows his whistle to halt play. The official had a backcourt count of five.

All of us would handle this situation by removing five seconds from the clock and awarding a throw-in to Team A near the division line. However, look at the POI rule. Note the reasons for invoking it. Correcting a timing mistake isn't listed. So what is our rules justification for giving the ball to Team A?

[billyu2]

Rule 5-8-2b. Time out occurs when an official stops play: “to confer with the timer or scorer.” Doesn’t matter if the clock is running or not. Obviously the ball would be given to Team A in your situation since they had team control when the official stopped play.

[kda89508]

Looks like NFHS needs to put a casebook play in the next casebook for this play.