Question about 10 second count

[EricBigNally]

I was at a high school game a few weeks ago and a 10 second call came in and I was curious if this was right because I had never seen it like this before. We were away against a very good team and we, well lets just say that our coach had no business making a schedule like that knowing what he was going to have on the team... Anyway, we were bring the ball up against full court pressure, one of our guys throws the ball most of the length of a the court and got it off clearly before the count came and went to a player inside the arc on the other end of the court. Right before it got to the player recieving the ball, the ref blows the whistle and calls 10 seconds. The coach asked for an explanation after exploding and, since I was behind the bench could hear what it was. "The ball had not been caught on the other side of the line before the count was up" Now I don't know if that is the rule or not so I didn't object. Plus it didn't change the outcome of the game as we were already down late in the game by about 45 or so. Thats right, late in the 4th quarter (about 2 minutes left) they still had starters in with full court pressure while we were pretty deep in the bench and down are best player anyway as he sprained his ankle very early int he first quarter. I don't get the running up the score thing but that is a whole different rant i suppose.

[lighthouse]

Rule 9, Section 9. A player shall not be (and his team shall not be) in continuous control of a ball that is in his backcourt for 10 consecutive seconds.

Since player, and team control remains during a pass from one teammate to another, or until the ball is tipped or the opponent gains control, the count continues until the ball is touched in front court. By your discription, the official got this one right. The ball has to be touched in front court within 10 seconds.

[EricBigNally]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I had never seen it before so had no idea if that was the actual rule or not. I feel much better now. I remember saying at the time when I was asked if that was right, "I dunno but we haven't seemed to have been screwed by the refs really so why would they start now?"