Basketball Section Five Rules in New York

Section Five is one of 11 geographical divisions for high school sports in the state of New York. Boys basketball teams in the section are divided into 10 classifications, based on school enrollment, when it comes to postseason play. The section encompasses the area around Rochester, N.Y., and sets its format for postseason play using the National Federation of State High School Associations rule book. NFHS is a national organization that provides consistency in U.S. high school athletics.

  1. Postseason Seeding

    • Section Five's teams play for spots in the state playoffs in 10 different section tournaments, based on school enrollment. The teams in each of the divisions of the section are seeded for tournament play based upon a point system that is used to rank their regular season performance. Points are awarded for each win during the season, with wins against teams from the higher divisions earning bonus points. Once the season ends, the points are used to seed teams and create brackets for all 10 section tournaments, with the winners moving on to a regional final or state tournament.

    Timing in Games

    • High school basketball games are played in eight-minute quarters with the clock stopping on each whistle. If there is a tie at the end of regulation time, four-minute overtime periods are used to decide the winner. The offensive team has 10 seconds to move the ball across midcourt once it takes possession on defense or after a made basket by the opponent. Each team has 35 seconds to get a shot off from the time it takes possession of the ball. A shot must hit the rim to reset the shot clock.

    Fouls

    • An individual player is allowed five fouls in a game. On the fifth foul, he is disqualified from further participation in that game, but is allowed to remain on the bench with his team. Each foul committed on a player who is in the act of shooting at any time during the game earns two free throws. Non-shooting fouls give the offended team the ball out of bounds for the first six team fouls in each half. Beginning with the seventh team foul against its opponent, a team is given a one-and-one free throw opportunity on which the shooter earns a second shot if he makes the first free throw. Once a team picks up 10 fouls in a half, the opposition shoots two free throws on every subsequent team foul in that half.

    Jump Ball

    • High school basketball uses the alternate-possession rule. The only times in a game that there will be a jump ball, with the referee throwing the ball in the air for opposing players to tap to their teammates, is at the start of the game and the start of overtime. At all other times, any balls on which the teams tie each other up for joint possession, in addition to the possession at the start of each quarter, will alternate between the teams.