Spectator interference at a critical point

[drinkeii]

I had a game (yes, intramural league, but there were probably 75 spectators there because it was late in the playoffs) where a shot went up just before the buzzer. The shot, had it been good, would have changed the outcome of the game. A spectator sitting near the front row at that end of the gym threw a basketball that he had been holding onto the court, toward the basket, and it contacted the game ball headed for the basket. It was entirely possible, based on the way the shot looked, that it could have gone in the basket.

The spectator was not there for any specific team - he was looking to get out on the court after the game. It was not intended to interfere with the shot (I know the kid pretty well - he admitted this afterwards, and I believe him). Obviously he was disciplined.

Extra information aside, how would you deal with this kind of interference which clearly could have affected the outcome of a game? It's possible (however unlikely) that something similar could happen in a real game - we all know anything and everything eventually does happen. What do you do? I honestly don't think there is a solution (short of a lynch mob for the spectator - haha j/k) that would make anyone happy, even if there is a solution. But I am curious to see how people would respond to this from an officials' point of view.