When does the count for a throw in after a made basket start? Does it start when the non scoring team has control of the ball out of bounds or when they have the opportunity to inbound the ball. I had the following situation last night:

Start of second half, A1 inbounding ball at midcourt. A1 mistakenly goes toward the wrong basket and takes a quick shot. Shot is rebounded and the other team heads up the floor in the wrong direction. However, they realize their mistake and go in for an uncontested lay-up. The ball is out of bounds waiting to be inbounded by the non-scoring team. No player comes to inbound the ball, so I started the five second count and whistled the violation. Was I right to do this, or should I have waited for a player to have the ball out of bounds? 6-1 says that the throw in sttarts when the ball is at the disposal of a player of the team entitled to the throw in. Does "disposl" mean in possession of the ball out of bounds or having opportunity to inbound the ball. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

By rule, you were correct.

But since there was confusion, I would not have started the count.

I don't normally start the count until a player for the throwing team has the ball, unless I think they are intentionally delaying the throw-in.