Timing snafu
 

Eleven seconds left in the half. White in-bounds. They run it down the court, pass it twice, and score. Blue in-bounds. They run it up the court, and there's a blocking foul on White. There are three seconds on the clock.

Just about everybody turns to me and says that the clock started late. Neither my partner nor I picked it up. (I know--that's our error. I've already beat myself up pretty bad about that, so you don't have to.)

I go to the table. She says she started the clock more than three seconds late.

The rule, of course, is that I as an official need to have definite knowledge to correct a timing error. If the timer seems confident about what went wrong, can that count?

Which of these is the least-bad option?

--Say I have no definite knowledge and give Blue their one-and-one with three seconds on the clock

--Say that there should be three seconds run off the clock, but that I've called the foul, so it stands; clear the lane and give blue their one-and-one

--Say that the clock should have run off before the foul--vacate the foul and start halftime.

Thanks in advance. Trust me--I won't be going down this road again.

your only option

Thanks--I agree, just needed the confirmation.

You use your counts but not a guess by the timer or yourself. If you had counts that totaled more than 11 seconds, you could use them.

Example...you have 6 seconds in the backcourt for white....3 more seconds of closely guarded in the frontcourt...pass...shot....3 more seconds on the throwin for blue. From that you have definite knowledge that time expired by the time blue threw the ball in. Even if you have a few seconds gap between some of the counts, you know for sure that 12 seconds passed based on your counts.

Otherwise, what JAR said.

Agreed. Excellent post, Camron.

Option #4 - Go to the replay booth.

Its getting closer to the lower levels all the time. Be the initiator for the 7/8 graders. After all, they just want us to get it right .... every time! :D