5 sec throw-in violation

[Chris Whitten]

BV game with A attempting an endline throw-in after a made basket. A has had trouble getting the ball in due to B's pressure, so they resort to the old 2 men standing out of bounds play. A1 and A2 are oob when A1 passes to A2, but A2 isn't looking. Ball goes past A2, past the end of the bleachers, and down toward the entrance doors to the gym. My partner at Lead looks out at me with a goofy look and just keeps his count until he reaches 5. A2 goes to get it, but doesn't make it back in time.

It looked weird, but we couldn't see where A violated until he reached 5. Did they violate before the 5 sec? If A2 had tracked it down and thrown it in from behind the bleachers before Lead reached 5, would they have been legal? Would the ball have to pass over the endline?

[HawkeyeCubP]

I know I've seen this discussed on the forum before, but I don't remember what the consensus was. My opinion is that the intent of 7-5-7 is to allow for a throw-in from anywhere beyond, but not outside the length of, the end line. It's wording is "A throw-in from anywhere along the end line..."
The end line has has finite length, as defined in 1-2-1 and the court diagram it refers to.