Maybe, just maybe, coaching is not your forte
 

Had a game earlier this year where the home team trailed 50-15 at HT and we had a running clock the whole second half. Coach is constantly complaining about 'no doubters'. One of my partners was a college official. Coach ends up stopping his car in the parking lot and asking our names. (Yes it went in the game report).

Back in the same gym a few days ago. His team trails by 2 with 18.4 seconds to go and a foul to give. No fouls. Until I whistle one right near the end and the horn sounds almost immediately afterwards. I signal game over as there really was not enough of a time difference to matter. And they were not tapping in a thrown in ball with less than .3 seconds left. He wants to know what the call WOULD have been. Maybe, had he coached his team to foul much sooner, twice, the other team might have missed FTs and given them a chance to tie the game.

That's when you should use your pseudonym: Earl Strom.

Why did you stop? LOL

MTD, Sr.

My response is Ed Hightower or Joe Crawford.

Running clock in 3rd quarter? Is that a Mercy Rule in your State?
The foul you called with .3 seconds or less was the 6th foul, correct? You are correct, now a team has to tap the ball to score. Also, the defense could foul during the inbounds play before the time expires. It would not be a shooting foul, but it would be the 7th foul and a 1 and 1. Thus they could tie the game.

I've had it in the 2nd quarter of a JVB game. The rule here is 35 points in our metro league for JV games. We actually had to think about whether it applied to the entire game, or just the 2nd half. We decided to get it started.

Not your decision to make. You don't KNOW what will happen or not happen after the throw in. In fact - what if the defense is solid and they can't get it thrown in at all ... or they throw it out of bounds untouched. What if defense fouls before the ball has been thrown in, and offense misses the rim entirely on the free throw. You might have deprived his team a chance to win this game (long pass / tip in) in your hurry to get off the court.

Our Mercy Rule in Missouri only applies to the 4th quarter with a lead of 30+ points.

I know we've been through this as a forum a few times but....

If the buzzer is so close to the whistle, what time can you put on with definite knowledge?

None, unless your state has specific guidance to the contrary (or has a monitor rule)

You can put whatever you see on the clock when you blow the whistle. Else definite knowledge is meaningless.

Maybe I misread the play / question -- I was assuming that no one saw any time, but "there had to be some time left"

That's how I read it, which is why I asked the question I did.

I also agree with your answer.

Foul. Whistle. Immediately after whistle, horn. In other words, it was so close to being simultaneous, that it was waved off. No definite knowledge on time remaining. I was trail, tableside, so last shot responsibility was with C. FWIW, both partners agreed with the call.

We have a running clock in second half if the margin gets to 35.

I took it the other way - that he knew how much time was left but decided it wasn't enough to make a difference (else why the "not enough to make a difference" comment). If, as the follow up post said, he didn't know how much time was left.. can't really do anything there, so I'd agree with you.

However, to me there's a difference between "We had no definite knowledge of how much time was left" and "we decided there wasn't enough time left to make a difference."