Mercy Rule Situation
 

Long-time lurker, first time poster.

Girls V game last night that went to mercy rule.

A1 is shooting foul shots in the last minute of the game with time expiring. Shoots the ball and while the first shot is in flight, the buzzer sounds.

I step into the lane and declare "Ball game!"

My partner steps toward the table and yells "No, she is entitled to her last free throw."

I realize there is nowhere in the rule book that addresses time expiring in the middle of a free throw, since mercy rule is state-to-state, but I would think 5-6-2 exception 3 applies here.

Thanks.

5-6-2-Exception
 

Each quarter or extra period ends when the signal illuminates or sounds indicating time has expired.
EXCEPTIONS: No free throw(s) shall be attempted after time has expired for the fourth quarter or any extra period, unless the point(s) would affect the outcome of the game.

Count the first free throw. Don't give her a second free throw. Turn out the lights on your way out of the gymnasium.

Welcome to the jungle.

Lurker,
State-by-state it's likely gonna be different, as you suggest.
Our state, in its published Officials' Manual, states, "During any running clock mode, the clock shall be stopped as normal for all timeouts and between quarters; and for free throws during the last two minutes of the game."
Thus, this hasn't been a problem around here.
Maybe check with your state to verify for sure if there isn't something there somewhere for you to work with on this should it ever happen again.
(BTW, my first GV game went to OT, so there's obviously something I can learn from you.) :p

I probably would have allowed the FTs if the game was not contentious or chippy. As stated, this is not something the rules cover, but the state might take a position on with an interpretation.

Peace

Unless the state has explicitly made rules to say otherwise, other NFHS rules still apply. No more shots.

Time has expired and the shot(s) will not affect the outcome. This is no different than if she had been fouled as time expired in a 4 point game...or if time expired in a 2 point game and she missed the first shot of two. Once time has expired and the remaining FTs can't affect the outcome, the game is over.

See what happens when you forget to take your meds! :eek:

Problem is I withdrew from my meds too early.
Tuesday game preceded by a Sunday night and Monday with a full-frontal all out tooth infection attack which was finally relieved by draining on Tuesday morning followed by a dose of actual heavy meds at noon, sleep until evening during which time the meds pretty much wore off completely -- I could tell cuz it hurt like mad and every crank on the whistle made it feel like the stitches on the inside of my mouth were gonna bust loose during 7:00 game. Now, I'm not saying I was under the influence of Vicodin during the game, but the aura of the whole experience was that it sure was easy to maintain focus on my primary. Then again, never mind. If my assigner finds out about this I might get all my games pulled. :o
Off the meds now cuz they'll get me fired from work.
Lost ten pounds in the process, though. Tempted to chew on some rocks to get another infection in order to lose the other ten pounds to get me down to where I really wanna be.

So which one of you screwed up? :)

True Confessions
 

Me. I was opposite table and called the successful attempt which tied the game good. Cuz it was, anyway.

We have a mercy rule and I've already had it in effect for 2 games. We instruct the timer to let the clock run except for time outs or cases where we instruct them to stop it such as free throws at the end of the game. If a kid is playing at this point of the game they likely don't get a lot of playing time. I sure would not want to take away maybe their best chance to score in a game just because it is a blowout. We handle it with the reporting official telling the timer to stop the clock in these type of situations.

Here we are taught that the clock runs continously except for a coaches or officials timeout once the margin gets to 40 pts.If the OP's scenario happened here game would be considered over.

If the schools can't do a better job scheduling competitive matchups, then why should we be concerned with points or playing time. Clearly the school admins don't care about providing the best possible environment for the kids to play.