Clock stops when - ball heading out of bounds
 

Let’s say there are just seconds left in the game. Shot goes up and player on winning team gets the rebound and throws the ball toward the end line. Ball bounces in play and takes a high bounce toward the stands. Theoretically, a player could attempt to leap from in bounds and attempt to bat the ball back into play without the ball every hitting anything out of bounds and the clock would , of course would keep running. But let’s say the ball bounced high enough to actually stay on the air high enough to not touch anything in the stand for let’s 3 seconds, which by that point the game clock could go off ending the game.
I see a lot of refs blow the whistle stopping the clock while the ball is still in the air prior to the ball actually hitting something out of bounds.
Granted, in my example above, it’s not very likely that a player could leap from in bounds, stay in the air, and actually have a chance of batting the ball back into play, but shouldn’t the clock run until the ball hits something out of bounds? I guess it’s similar somewhat to a player throwing the ball toward the roof of a big arena, where it never hits any structure but takes 4 seconds or so to finally come down , this running out game clock in the process.
So, do you wait to blow the whistle until the ball actually touches something out of bounds in my example above?

The rule is clear. The ball is not out of bounds until it touches something out of bounds. Do no blow the whistle until the ball is out of bounds.

The Rule Is Clear ...
 

I've never seen this called any other way, and I've spent the last thirty years observing junior varsity games.

Fair enough, but on a smaller scale, many inexperienced officials have a tendency to call OOB before the ball is actually OOB. A good example is an air ball that lands just inside the end line, then bounces high and out for a couple of seconds with no one in pursuit until it finally hits a bleacher or wall or whatever. Too many officials blow the whistle early here.

But as said, stick to the rule. In the OP, throwing the ball long was a sound strategy to eat some clock. Don’t penalize a smart play. Reminds me of a football team with the lead, defense has no timeouts, 4th down, and about a four second differential between game and play clock. You can either take a safety if up by more than two, OR...just drop back and throw the ball as high as you can and out of bounds. Clock doesn’t stop until the ball lands.


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Cross country, that is exactly the example I was thinking of. Air ball that bounces.

Thanks guys!

Wait to blow the whistle.

Or Around The Block Enough Times ...
 

Maybe I haven't been to enough rodeos, but I haven't seen this.

(We're talking about trained officials working interscholastic games, not some high school players making a few extra bucks working kids recreation games on weekend? Right?)

Ok, of course I should have googled this first before my original post, but I see this has been covered before (the thread I found was from 6 years ago). In that one, OP saw it happen in a Div 1 college game.

Then you're not paying attention. The whistle is blown early on these types of plays all the time … yes, even in high school games with "real" officials (gasp).

Sad, but true.

Agree. I've heard the whistle often before the ball is actually OOB. Of course, we're talking much less than a second in situations that really don't matter most all of the time.

I have seen it in college and NBA games also.

And The Horse You Rode In On ...
 

I guess that I'll be getting on my horse and going to another rodeo.