Possible for a no call?
 

Watching an 8th grade CYO game (with generally good refs) and confused by a call. A1 has the ball and falls to the ground with it, from my view, never letting go of the ball. Ref did hand on top gesture and let play continue. Assuming I'm right that he never let go of the ball, that has to be either a travel or a held ball, right?

Not enough information. What do you mean by "hand on top gesture?" Like he was raising his hand to stop the clock and changed his mind, or he gave some kind of "the defender touched the ball" signal?

Sounds like it was either a travel or a held ball, but maybe the official thought about a foul which may have caused the ball handler to fall, and then didn't follow through with it. Or maybe he ruled the defender got his hand on the ball which caused the ball handler to fumble while falling, thus no travel. Or maybe he just flat out choked. Hard to tell without a video.

It looked like a signal sometimes given when a shot is blocked that goes along with a held ball. Really my question was to see if I understand the rule. As I understand it, if A1 fell to the ground in possession of the ball, it is a travel unless an opponent's action caused a held ball (or a foul). Right? Put another way, There's no way for the right call to be a no-call if he was standing with possession and fell to the ground with the ball, right?

Correct. In that situation, there should have at least been a whistle for something. About the only way I can think there may not be one here is if, in the officials's judgment, the player was not in control on the way down (ostensibly because a defender caused the loss of control and the ball handler did not regain control until he was already on the floor).

Was the player dribbling or holding the ball? When he fell if dribbling did he pin the ball to the ground on the way down? This is the only thing I can think of?

And, did the player contact the ground with something other than a hand or foot? Maybe he fell on the ball and didn't really touch the ground (until, perhaps, after he lost control of the ball)

Thx all. In the case that caught my interest, the player fell full out splayed on the ground. So either the ref thought the ball was knocked loose, or missed the call. Hardly the worst of misses - I just wanted to know if I understood the rule properly.

Sweet Georgia Brown ...
 

My thought exactly (as a possibility). Players are allowed to do a lot of things while dribbling the ball that they aren't allowed to do when they are holding the ball, like dribbling the ball all the way to the floor (pinning) when falling down. Contacting the floor with something other than a hand, or foot, only applies to a player holding the ball.

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