Whistle from the crowd

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

A couple of years ago I had a somewhat similar situation in a boys' H.S. varsity game in a Christmas tournament.

Team A has the ball in their front court in the first half.
I am T on the table side. A1 has the ball at the top of the key when A's head coach whistles very loudly. Everybody on Team B freezes while A1 drives to the basket for a layup. My partner and I blew our whistles and looked at each other as if to say what the heck just happened. We went to the A's head coach and he told us that he always whistles when he wants his team to call a time-out. My partner and I huddled and decided we didn't believe him. We disallowed the basket and T'd up Coach A for unsportsmanlike conduct. He wasn't happy but he didn't protest much. It was our opinion that this was a planned play and he had been getting away with it until now.