Power Outage - Clock Resets
 

Timeout with 2:43 left in the 4th qtr. I administer and look to make sure the clock starts properly . It does.

Ball is walked down the floor and subsequently there is a foul by B1 on the shooter. While reporting the foul the power goes out for a a few seconds. Whole building goes black. When it comes back on the game clock has reset to it's default of 8:00 and no score.

What are my options for the "definite knowledge?" If I ask the clock operator and he says the last time he saw was 2:35 can I put the clock back to that? Can I ask the official scorekeeper what the last time he/she saw?

In my game no one had any idea so I put it back to 2:43. Correct move?

Since it was 2:43, and you saw it start, you must have seen at least 2:42.

And, you had the count in the BC that you could take off as well.

We had this happen at our school a few years back and that's exactly what happened. Board goes out, Officials blow play dead on the court, We confer at the table and use definite knowledge to reset the clock and the book to reset the scoreboard. That year the board had given us problems for reasons still to this day unknown despite having two electricians look at it. We bought new board control units and it seems to have solved the problem like a charm.

I thought about the 2:42 afterwards.

However, I didn't remember how many seconds I had in the backcourt because there was a bit of time consumed in the front court before the foul.

I think in such a case that the clock operator would be a viable option....but really 2:35 vs. 2:43 is not that big of a deal. 15 seconds vs. 7 seconds is.

(A) is = 2:43 - BC count - any FC closely guarded counts. That's likely that only definite knowledge that you can use.

If what you have in (A) is near the 2:35 mark, then I most definitely would trust the timer's judgment, unless you have a lower reading.

Definitely DO NOT go back to 2:43. That's saying that no time expired. Your credibility is in question if you do that.

I've been known to "erroneously have a closely guarded count" when I've been weary of a timer's duties in crucial situations.