Backcourt Violation Question

[manhong]

I was officiating a game tonight played with NCAA rules. Here's the situation that happened that I would like to get feedback and criticism:

Player A1 is dribbling from his back court towards the front court. Prior to reaching the front court, player B1 reaches in and gets the ball loose from A1. During the scramble by both players for the loose ball (which occurred approximately 3 or 4 feet from the reach in by player B1 and neither team had possession), the 10 second backcourt violation occurs. A held ball then occurs between A1 and B1 after the violation.

According to the NCAA rules (page 130 Case A.R. 16), an official should rule this situation a 10 second violation on team A (rather than go with the held ball that resulted). However, from a common sense standpoint, it seems to me like it would be tough to explain to a coach that his team committed a 10 second violation when neither team had possession of the ball (in this case, team A had team control of the ball). My question is whether I should have went with the book rule and called the violation or should I have gone with the held ball??? To be honest, I didn't realize that case A.R. 16 was in the NCAA rules book until after the incident occurred. I went with the held ball and one of my partners informed me after the game about the violation. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.


[Edited by manhong on Feb 10th, 2005 at 12:34 AM]