Correctable Error

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Back In The Saddle
Rainmaker has put extensive thought into this stuff, and I'll be interested to see what she says, others too. And I don't have my case book here, but from strictly my reading of rule 2-10 (NFHS), here's what I get:

If the administering official told them 2 shots, then you have nothing more than an excitable young man throwing up a prayer with a dead ball. Major bummer for sure, but wipe off the basket, restore the time on the clock, line everybody up for the second shot and go on as if nothing ever happened.

If the official signaled 1&1, then things get more interesting. You have a failure to award a merited free throw, which is a correctible error. And you're still within the time frame to correct it. However, "Points scored, consumed time and additional activity, which may occur prior to the recognition of an error, shall not be nullified." At that point you shoot the additional free throw with the lane cleared and go to the POI, which is the throw-in after the made basket.

My "extensive thought" doesn't amount to a hill of beans as far as official rulings, Ray. My articles were mostly clarifications and memory helps (okay, mnemonics for you vocabulary mavens).

But judging from the case book, I'd say that regardless of whether the refs announced "two shots" or "1-and-1" the winning basket in this game has to count. I can't see any way to nullify it, as the situation came out. Case 2.10.1 Sit B says, "A1 has gbeen awarded two free throws. Erroneously, the ball is allowed to remain in play after A2 misses on the first attempt. A2 rebounds the miss and tosses the ball through the basket. B1 secures the ball and inbounds it. Play continues until a foul is called on A2 as B is passing the ball in B's frontcourt. Ruling: The goal by A2 counts, but the error of not awarding A1 a second freethrow is no longer correctable. Since the ball remained in play on the missed free throw, the clock started and the ball became dead when the goal was scored.

You also can't put time back on the clock. It appears to me that in order to prevent this incredibly horrible outcome, the refs should have blown the play dead as soon as B rebounded. Even if they'd blown it dead as B was heading up court, it would have been sufficient. But once the basket is made at the other end, I can't see any rules justification for calling it back. I'd be interested to hear what Chuck or Jurassic have to say. Isn't this sitch interesting enough to get JR back?