jump ball restrictions

[so cal lurker]

NFHS rules.

Having a very tall center, my son's 8th grade team runs a play on jump balls with a player cutting to get to an open space for a long tip. The player does not line up on the circle, but stays at 5-10' off the circle. They've had a lot of success on this. In a recent game, however, a refere called a violation, ruling that he was not allowed to move until the ball was tipped.

That's wrong, isn't it? Inlooking in the book, I can only find a restriction on movements by the players on the restraining circle, whihc is what I always thought the rule was. (And am I right that "on" the restraining circle means within 3'? I thought that was the rule, but don't see it.) And if it really is a violation, I'd love a reference -- I'm still finding the book a PITA to find stuff in as I get used to it . . .

I'm not too worried about a one-off mis-call (and if we have that ref, we'll just to it his way), but if we're teaching a play that is properly a violation, we should change it.