double dribble?

[footlocker]

We had this situation in our JV game last night.

My partner is coming from Lead to Trail as home team brings the ball upcourt. There is some pressure on A1 in the backcourt. A1 takes the ball, while dribbling, and passes the ball (with one hand) by pushing it towards another player. (This pass was obvious, but the ball did not come to rest in his hand.) The player he passed to (A2) was not expecting it and took off. A1 runs after his own pass and recovers it with a bat to the floor where he continues his dribble.

I wasn't sure about the call. My partner whistled the double dribble. We looked at the rulebook 9-5-3 & 4-15. Does the dribble end when a player passes the rock? Is this a double dribble or legal play?

Help me out with rule interpretation here. One varsity official said it should have been a no call, the other was not sure.

[Edited by footlocker on Feb 4th, 2004 at 11:46 AM]