Six on court, but...

[Jim Henry]

Had a tough situation Monday night in 8th grade girl’s conference tourney.

Beginning of 4th period. I administered the throw-in. After the ball is in play my partner blows his whistle for a timeout by “A” coach but also says “A” team has six players on the court and T’s up “A”. Meanwhile, “A” coach is yelling he called a timeout first and no technical.

As it turned out there were six “A” players on the court BUT neither one us discovered the violation or called the technical. My partner called the T after the fact.

I pulled my partner off to the side and I said that if the timeout was called first, then it’s a dead ball and there can’t be a technical foul. “B” coach is in our ear yelling it doesn’t matter when the violation happened; that if there are 6 on the court it is an automatic violation. I told him not automatic unless the ref sees and calls the technical foul. “B” coach is adamant that I am wrong and that his team should shoot two.

I go back to my partner and he said that he has already announced the foul to the scorer and “B” will shoot two and won’t change the call. “A” coach was of course mad and reiterated we were wrong, but we proceeded with the T and told the scorer not to record the timeout by “A” coach.

Turned out “B” (home team) missed both shots and “A” won by 8. But after the game we furthered discussed and feel we made a mistake on allowing the technical shots. Probably a mistake too that we gave the time out back to the “A” coach.

Hate when this happens!

Your comments are welcomed.