Last Second Debacle?

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by stripes2255

Looking for some opinions on whether my partner and I handled an end of game situation correctly or not. Holiday Tournament 2-man crew, 3 point game with 5.3 seconds left. Team behind throwing the ball inbounds front court end line. I am the trail and the inbounds pass goes to a player in my primary who then passes to a shooter that misses the shot, gets the rebound and passes is out for another 3 point shot that goes in at the buzzer.

The defensive team complains that the clock did not start when the first offensive player caught the ball. My partner and I speak with the clock keeper who says he agrees that it didn’t start on time but doesn’t know how much time elapsed before he did start it. My partner and I don’t know how much time elapsed either so off to OT we go. Did we do this correctly by allowing the three point shot?

A couple thoughts, usually I may peek to see if the clock starts in that situation but the initial offensive player was dangerously close to the three point line and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t on the line if he took the shot. Also, after we got into the locker room my partner says that he noticed the clock hadn’t started after the pass was being made to the first three point try. If he would have stopped it then, what options do we have here? Start the play over at 5.3 seconds or run off the necessary time and inbound the ball at POI?

In the end the team up by three to start this whole mess won easily in OT so I felt like there was a bullet dodged but looking for opinions to handle a situation I hope doesn’t happen again. Sorry for this being lengthy but felt I needed to get all of the info explained properly.

During a close game, I often go to the timer with about 120 to 60 seconds left, who is usually a high school kid*, and tell them s/he's doing a great job so far. I then remind him/her that the most important thing you do from here on in is to start the clock when my (or his) arm "chops in time".

There are surprisingly many opportunities to do this: timeouts, "checking" to see if we're in the bonus, regular throw-ins near the table, etc.

I always make sure to thank the table for their help in making sure that the game went off without any problems.

I can't remember the last time that I've had a timing issue like yours in a close game.

In 98% of all the games I work, HS and club, the table is manned by HS kids. About 1 game in 3 I see new faces.