Can't believe that this happened
 

Semi Final state tournament game last week. Under 2 minutes to play. Team A at the line shooting 2 shots. First shot is missed, Team B rebounds, outlets up the court and a scores a lay-up without anyone recognizing what happened. The officials got together, scored the basket, gave team A the second free throw and then awarded team A the ball back. Did the officials get it right? In all of my years I've never seen this happen.

This begs some questions:
1. Did the officials tell the players "2 shots" or "1 shot?"
2. Did all the players play as if it were a 1 shot penalty, or just team B?

The answers make a difference as to whether the officials administered it correctly or not.

not sure if the official announced one or two shots. As soon as the ball was passed to the outlet and Team B was attempting to score, Team A "attempted to play" but the play was over. Happened quickly, and everyone was stunned. Can you explain how it should happen if one or two shots were announced or if Team A attempted to play defense or if they just stood. I am a coach and obviously this is an odd play, I think that I understand how the basket could count based upon the ball becomes dead when it goes through the cylinder, but was the ball actually "live" on the missed free throw?

Casebook:
8.6.1 SITUATION:

A1 is about to attempt the first of a one-and-one free-throw situation. The administering official steps in and erroneously informs players that two shots will be taken. A1's first attempt is unsuccessful. The missed shot is rebounded by: (a) B1, with all other players motionless in anticipation of another throw; (b) A2, with all other players motionless in anticipation of another throw; or (c) B2, with several players from both teams attempting to secure the rebound. The officials recognize their error at this point. RULING: In (a) and (b), the official's error clearly put one team at a disadvantage (players stood motionless and didn't attempt to rebound). Play should be whistled dead immediately and resumed using the alternating-possession procedure. In (c), both teams made an attempt to rebound despite the official's error and had an equal opportunity to gain possession of the rebound. Play should continue. (2-3)

Further question: Did Team A attempt to rebound the miss?

If the officials had announced 1 shot, and everyone attempted to rebound, then it's correct regardless of any other question.

If they announced two shots, and everyone played the rebound, it's correct.

If they announced 1 shot and only team B played the rebound, they should stop it quickly and bring them back. The problem is, by allowing the ball to remain live, they're risking this happening. Once B scores, you can't nullify the points. They did it right by giving A the final FT and the ball (assuming A got the ball underneath B's basket for an end-line throw-in).

If they announced 2 shots, and only B played the rebound, it gets a bit trickier. Some would say the ball became dead as soon as the FT missed so B has essentially thrown a dead ball through the hoop. Others say the officials have allowed the ball to remain live by letting B advance it and not killing the play; thus making the points irreversible. I would have gone with the first option; the ball was dead once it missed.

My guess is the official announced 1 shot by mistake and everything snowballed from there; but they "fixed" it correctly.

Thanks for the replies. I'm friendly with one of the officials that did this game and he's a good official that does a lot of college games so I feel bad that this happened in front of 8,000 fans, I'll have to ask him the details when the tourney is over.

It's the kind of mistake that can happen to anyone, but you want it to be in early December rather than late February.

I agree with everything except this part, which, though in some sense correct, is not practical advice. They won't "stop it quickly" because they think A is shooting 1, and they don't discover the error until after B scores. Your advice is tantamount to saying "don't make that error," which doesn't really answer the question.

Assuming the officials erroneously gave A 1 FT and then let B score, they got the CE situation right. Of course, if they had happened to recognize the error during the FT, then it would have made sense to kill it on the miss.

A was unfortunate about the officials' error, but they did end up with possession at the end of it all.

Yes, they got it right. It's a correctable error situation. When the officials failed to realize there was an error and the second FT was not shot, the ball is live and B's basket is good. They can now catch the error by the next dead ball and give the shooter his second FT.

You shouldn't disagree. Snaq's statement is backed by case play.

Nah, it's more like saying, "recognize it sooner." But you're right, in practice, it's just not going to happen.

As I said: if he's stating what officials should do in such situations, he's right. If he's saying what those officials should have done in the OP, it's not practical advice for the reasons I gave.

Sorry guys, I'm not buying. The case play used was specifically for a 1 and 1 situation when the ball would become live when at the disposal of the thrower and stay live when the free throw was missed. In this case, where two free throws are to be administered, the ball becomes dead when it is apparent the free throw will not be successful, regardless of what the officials told the players before the first throw, the ball should have been dead after the first throw per rule 6-7-2a. The error is therefore correctable per rule 2-10-1e (erroneously counting or canceling a score) and 2-10-3 (If in article 1e the error is made while the clock is running and the ball dead, it must be recognized by an official before the second live ball, which apparently it was)

Yes, they got it right as per NFHS rule 2-10-1(a), 2-10-2, 2-10-5, 2-10-6 and case book play 2.10.1SitH

Actually, if the officials announced 1 & 1, I believe the error would be failure to award a merited free throw.