Intentional foul follies

[Mark Padgett]

3rd game in a row yesterday (so you know my crankiness level is at it's peak) - 8th grade boys rec. Team A is up by 2 with about 5 seconds left and A1 has the ball. B1 runs up behind him and pushes him in the back with both hands right in front of my partner, who calls the intentional foul. You can guess what coach B did. Yeah, he throws up his hands and yells, "That's not intentional!"

Team A requests and is granted a TO (why - I don't know, but they did). I walk over to Coach B, get about 3 feet away and tell him that we're not going to continue play until he can explain to me why that shouldn't be called an intentional foul. He looks confused (so what else is new) and I tell him that he was the one who yelled that it wasn't an intentional foul and now he has the opportunity to convince me that it wasn't and maybe I would change the call.

He said, "because it's at the end of the game and we're supposed to foul." I told him I had a rule book in my bag and if he could show me that rule, I would appreciate it.

He stared for a minute, then just turned around and sat down. BTW - A1 made both FTs, they then inbounded and team B just let the clock run out.