Timer's error

[Hawks Coach]

I went back and forth on this one for a while with regard to horn and whistle. You could decide to interpret the rules in such a way that this was an inadvertent horn and play continued 'til the whistle. And I kind of like that outcome, because it puts the ball where it should be, in B's hands.

Then I looked again at the rules. This was not just any horn. The rule clearly states in two places that the horn ends the period (which makes it different than just an advisory signal, which it is in all other cases). We have a horn and a clock with all zeroes - play stops now.

2-12-8 (Timers duties)
"Indicate by signal the expiration of playing time in each quarter or extra period. This signal terminates player activity."

5-6 (beginning/end of period)
"Each quarter or extra period begins when the ball first becomes live. It ends when the signal sounds indicating time has expired"

No whistle required folks.

There are exceptions provided in the 5-6, but they do not include any allowance for action after an inadvertent horn for end of period. I know that giving the ball to B seems fairer and could probably be done without undue protest from either bench (coach for A will be yelling about your decision to put time on the clock and probably won't even think about AP arrow!). However, it seems that AP is the technically correct decision because there is no player or team control at the time of the horn.