Delay of Game Situation

[Welpe]

I had a situation come up during a varsity scrimmage that I'd like to run by the collective wisdom of the forum.

Two fast breaking teams with about two minutes left in the period, score is not all that close. A15 goes up for a successful lay up and on the way down, puts up his hand which the ball deflects off of and squirts away down the end line a few feet.

In my judgment, A15 did this as a reaction to keep the ball from hitting him in the face and did not intentionally interfere with the ball. Based upon the reaction of the defense, I don't think it interefered with a fast break opportunity either.

The head coach for the defense was incensed and did not care for my explanation after the the period had ended. He wanted to the delay of game called and said it did not matter if the player was protecting himself or not.

What do you all think? Does he have a valid argument? Do you make any allowance for a player protecting himself in a situation like that?

Incidentally, a three hour scrimmage with three teams and only two officials is not a lot of fun but we got a lot of reps in.