injured player

[J Morrow]

Recently did a jv boys game. Team A only had five players for various reasons. With seconds left in the first half one of their players comes down wrong on his ankle and is helped off the court. All thru the second half, with this player on the bench iced down, Team A plays 4 on 5 and is winning. Game comes down to 3 seconds left, two point lead for Team A. Team B calls timeout. As teams start to come back onto the court I notice that the injured player is hopping onto the court, not able to put weight on his injured ankle. Team B is inbounding, can run the endline, must go full court, and hit a 3pointer to win, within 3 seconds. I tell Team A coach that his injured player should not enter the game. He tells me that injured player is entering only to stand in front of the inbounds thrower, to wave his arms, and he will not be moving around. What should I do? Should I allow the injured player to enter the game? Do I have the authorization to not let him play? He has not been bleeding nor lost consciousness. Your comments please.



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[Todd VandenAkker]

He's allowed to come in if he feels up to it. Not a bad idea for the coach, actually--put someone there to distract the thrower, though it's questionable how helpful that will be since the thrower can run the endline anyway. Either way, it's really up to the coach. If the kid was never unconscious or bleeding, we as officials can't tell him otherwise.