Wrong Way to Start Quarter

[bbcof83]

I was watching a game last Friday. Three man crew doing a great job so far in a well contested close game. Black's ball to start 3rd quarter. For some reason black is setup to go the wrong way and nobody, including the officials, notices. A1 throws ball in to A2 in what he thought was his backcourt (actually FC). A2 slowly dribbles toward what he thinks is his basket. Some hub bub starts up as coach, some fans and some players begin to realize he's going the wrong way and has a free path to his basket if he just turns around. A2 crosses the line with the ball before realizing. BC violation.

I was very surprised to see this as the officials were setup going in the wrong direction. Momentary mental lapse by all 3 officials... shouldn't happen but it did. I was spectating (on vacation in Ft Myers, decided to check out a game) and realized the error about the same time as the officials did, as A2 caught the ball. I could see them looking at eachother and preparing to sprint the other way.

Question: at what point does our option of stopping the game, getting everyone straightened out and then restarting, end? When ball is at thrower's disposal? If everyone stops and looks at us officials like "what should we do?" Or are we powerless once the mistake is made? Wait for A to score or violate...