this ALMOST happened...

[eg-italy]

Originally Posted by ABC Coach

I reffed a game last Friday and had a potential tricky situation. I'll explain what COULD have happened and let you guys tell me how I should have handled it.

A1 goes to the hoop and while shooting gets bumped by B1. I called the blocking foul on B1 and the basket was good. Due to the minor bump, A1 falls to the ground, taking B2 down with him (incidental contact). I had already began reporting the foul to the scorer's table and didn't see what happened next. B2 claims that A1 punched him in the stomach when they went to the ground. A1 says he was just trying to lift B2 off of him. By the time I had turned around, both players were being held back by their teammates and nothing ensued.

Because I didn't see what happened (and unfortunately my partner [a rookie ref] wasn't watching it either), I didn't call any technicals because I didn't know exactly what had transpired. Maybe I should have called the technicals just because A1 and B2 were arguing...so feel free to correct me on that point if I need it.

Now...let's say I did call the double technical. I have A1 entitled to a free throw, and A1 and B2 have technicals. If I understand things correctly, I have to administer the penalities in the order in which they occured, therefore the two technicals WOULD NOT have cancelled one another in this situation. How should I have proceeded if I would have called the T's?

Thanks for the help.

A punch in the stomach by a player to a player is never a technical foul in FIBA; it would be if a substitute or an excluded player was involved, which is not the case. It's either an unsportsmanlike or disqualifying personal foul, most probably a D.

Assuming you called a U on A1 and a T on B1, the order of occurrence is immaterial: the two penalties are equal, so they cancel each other. The FT for A1 because of B1's shooting foul remains and play resumes as usual after that FT.

Why wouldn't they cancel out? They are fouls committed during the same dead ball period, so the article on special situation applies. Do you remember? A pencil and a sheet of paper

Shooting foul on B1 (1 FT)

U on A1 (2FT + ball)

T on B1 (2FT + ball)

The two equal penalties cancel out. It would be different if the first foul on B1 had been a U (without A1 scoring); now the remaining penalty would be the one for the T on B1, so 2 FT for any player of team A.

Ciao