free throw lane issues

[Ref in PA]

I think this would be an interesting question to be addressed in the case book. A4 shooting and B1 following A1 along the lane. I have not found anything specific in the rule book.

If it were my game I would make team B occupy their spots first then allow team A get their spots. Two reasons for that: B must occupy the two lower spots and I would make them fill that requirement first. Everything else is optional. B also has the advantage of having up to four players along the lane while A can only have up to two. A is already at a disadvantage, why further penalize them by giving B the option of advantageous matchups? But I also realize that the 4 to 2 rule was instated to insure the defense had a clear advantage for free throw rebounding. To me, forcing line advantageous match ups for B is taking it too far. I realize there is no rule base for imposing my opinion in this situation other than the referee ruling on an aspect not specifically covered in the rules.

I would have imposed this ruling before handing out a "T" to anyone. Tell the players that their line up is final (which you did), but then you allowed B to move but did not allow A?. In a way I feel that letting B get the final advantage let the situation get out of hand. But at the same time the players did not listen to specific instruction from the referee, so you were not left with much of a choice at that point.