Midcourt Scramble

[ranjo]

This just happened this morning. National AAU 12U tournament.

I am working with a new partner who has impressed me from the opening tip off. We are working a great close game between two evenly matched up and down the floor teams.

In the third quarter there is a scramble for a loose ball in my partners area. I am expecting a whistle and a jump ball. The whistle sounds and I hear my partner say " time out white - black ball on the endline". Both coaches are on the floor. How can this be? If white had pocession to call the time out, why is black getting the ball?

We herd both coaches back to their benchs and come together. We decide we do not have any type of correctable error, we will charge white with a time out, and give the ball back to black. We explain to both coaches the call was an officials error, not correctable, and get the game going. The game continues to be tight and fun to work right to the end.

These kids are coached to call for a time out when they get in a situation where there may be a turnover. Numerous times during the game when there was a loose ball, kids from both teams were calling for time outs. Its just another one of those things to be aware of and add to your pregame list.

Would anybody have done anything differently?

There are only ten rules, but we still manage to screw it up now and then don't we.