Actionless Contest

[stripes]

Originally Posted by Fed2You

Utah 5A boys semi-finals. 1st qtr is going along fine till about half way through, after a timeout. Team A inbounds the ball and passes to the PG standing just inside his frontcourt.....and he proceeds to stand there for the next 3 1/2 minutes. Team B is in a 2-3 zone and won't come out. Crowd was booing to beat all heck. Team A finally tries for the last shot of the quarter and misses.

2nd quarter, Team A's ball on AP. SAME EXACT THING. The entire 2nd quarter was squandered until Team A tried for the final shot of the half and missed. Score: 14-7, Team B up. Thankfully, 3rd and 4th quarters were normal and Team B beat the wheels off of Team A.

Hopefully Utah will have a shot clock next year, at least for Regionals and beyond because of this. I've never seen anything like it. As a fan i was pissed. As a ref, I would have been incredibly frustrated. Seems like there should be something we can do, but which team has the onus to force action? Bring in the shot clock!

I could not disagree more with the need for a shot clock. The second half proved that Brighton could not keep up with Lone Peak. Their only chance (in the coach's eyes) was to shorten the game. Brighton went into halftime only down 7...that is a lot better than most teams who played LP this season. If Brighton would have been forced to shoot every 30-45 seconds, they stood no chance. I support the use a shot clock in college. Coaches are paid to bring in good players. In Utah HS bball, coaches cannot do this and a shot clock, IMO, makes the rich richer. Teams with less talent become even less talented with the shot clock.

I was one of the three officials working the game and it was boring, but I have NO PROBLEM with the decision to hold the ball.