Official correcting improper Time out call

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by port23

Middle school Team A is driving to basket on fast break at end of second quarter.

Coach A yells to players on bench about proper defensive technique on the last play.

Official interprets the instructions Coach A is yelling as a Time Out call by Coach A. Coach A did not use the words "time" or "out" or anything that rhymes with them.

When Coach A explains that he did not want the time out, especially to stop a fastbreak with 3 seconds remaining, the official charges Team A with a Full time out and says his call is uncorrectable.

Is there an inadvertent whistle rule that would deal with this situation?

If I mess up that badly, then you're getting your time out back.

It's a Rome thing: I was once in a provincial quarter-final and I erroneously granted a timeout. The coach was deer in headlights. I realized that happened, and gave his TO back, explained to both coaches that it was my error. Evaluator said I did the right thing.

IW: go to POI.