Out of bounds placement

[tigerb]

I had this happen in a game I was coaching, just curious about the ruling.

We throw a length of the court pass toward our hoop after a made basket by the opposition. Well the pass is over thrown and bounces a few times toward the baseline.

My player, being much smarter than I gave him credit for. Sprints toward the ball, even with no chance to save it in play and slides on the ground, going out of bounds, but gets under the ball and touches it before the ball actually hits out of bounds.

The ref signals to place the ball in bounds back at the original throw in. I question this, get no response, call a time-out to confer, and the reason I get was that we had no chance of saving it into play, that my players only goal was to make sure the opponent had to go the length of the court. I say, yes that is true, but it was a smart play and he did touch it before it went out of bounds. Well I lost the argument. Luckily we defended well and did not give up the basket at the other end.

What is your take on this.