Closely guarded rule

[johnsatchmo]

This kinda goes along with this topic so I thought I'd better put it in here istead of a new thread.

I run the scoreboard in adult league and this call was made and argued vehemently. There was about a minute to go in the game and A1 had passed the ball in to A2. A2 holds the ball but no one on Team B comes out to guard him. After 5 seconds the official calls him for what he explain as "5 second held ball rule", saying that you couldn't hold the ball for 5 seconds no matter if closely guarded or not. Is this the correct call?