Scorebook/Scoreboard Error at End of Game

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by just another ref

So, for that matter, what if the scorer finds the mistake before the officials leave? The team which has successfully stalled out the final minute is then told, "Oops, scoring error. Y'all are behind by one instead of up by one. Sorry, you lose."
Would this not be the ultimate rip-off?

There's nothing anyone can do. If the losing team thinks it was done intentionally, then I suppose they could file a complaint. Otherwise, I think it's just too bad. But having a visiting book plus the home book and having them checking constantly with each other, and extrapolating that to include the scoreboard should prevent this sort of scenario.

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by just another ref

Who loses?

B

[Stat-Man]

As someone who has been a scorer since my grade school days, I'm amazed that the either or both scorers didn't check the scoreboard to make sure it was correct. If my running score doesn't agree with what's on the board, I'll check with the other scorer to see what he or she has as their score, and then proceed from there.

For me, this is especially true at MS or lower games where the home scorer may either be a kid or inexperienced parent. Then, I follow the rule on scorers more to a tee and ask questions such as "how many fouls on #14?" or "how many times out left does [team so and so] have now?"

If I'm the home scorer at these games, I make sure to verbalize the player scoring/fouling, who called what kind of time out, and end of quarter score and fouls. If halftime is long enough, I'll even review individual fouls. Sometimes, it doesn't stop discrepancies, but I'd rather try to be proactive than have someone wait until the last part of a game to claim some sort of book error that could have been taken care of with preventive scorekeeping.