Resumption Of Play, Delay Of Game ???

[BillyMac]

I was watching the second game of a holiday tournament varsity doubleheader today. Near the end of the halftime intermission only one team is on the court. The other team is nowhere to be seen. Umpire, a buddy of mine, says to me, "I guess that we'll have to put the ball down on the floor to start the second half". I told him that I didn't think that we could do that at the start of the second half if one of the teams wasn't in the gymnasium.

Now that I'm home, I've been trying to read through my rulebook, and casebook, to find out if I was right. I can't find a rule, or an interpretation, that tells us not to put the ball on the floor when one of the teams isn't in the gymnasium. Did I dream up this interpretation, or am I not doing a good job of finding it in the rulebook, or casebook?