With the NJSIAA’s full membership set to vote in May whether to introduce a shot clock in high school basketball, the debate has intensified among players, coaches, fans, even administrators.
While many coaches believe it would be better for the game – eliminating long periods where teams with a lead, or looking for the last shot of the game or quarter, simply hold the ball – those opposed often cite the cost of both the equipment and personnel, as well as the logistics.
How many times have you seen an issue with just the standard game clock, the score, or even fouls?
But we decided to take a look at this story from a different angle. Just how much will it change the game?
Everyone has seen viral videos on social media of teams with a big lead holding the ball for a full minute, or maybe two, or even more? Those seem to be the exception to the rule.
Nonetheless, we broke down a few random games. Three of them we saw live in person, with live broadcasts on Central Jersey Sports Radio. All games were completed in regulation – no overtime – and there were no running clocks, with the final margins ranging from eight to 24 points, a good spread that includes close games where one team is trying to come back and a blowout where the backups played the final few minutes.
With the proposed shot clock being 35 seconds, we took a look at any possession that got close to that 35-second range for any potential violations. Keep in mind that a) without a shot clock currently, teams aren’t focused on beating the clock, and b) the review of games was conducted through game video available publicly online. Since the shot clock on a made basket doesn’t start until the ball is touched by a player on the inbound – while the game clock still runs – it’s not always easy to tell with 100% accuracy when the shot clock would start, as digital panning by cameras like Hudl (the most widely used system) follow movement on the court, and the inbound in the back court isn’t always visible in the frame.
January 17, 2026 – Boys’ Basketball: No. 6 East Brunswick 73, Woodbridge 49
The Bears had a big lead early in this one, which could have led to some stalling by the Barrons to stem the tide. And when reserves came in for both teams midway through the fourth quarter, there could have easily been some long possessions. This was the one game Central Jersey Sports Radio did not see in person.
- 1st Quarter: Woodbridge gets the ball with 59.6 seconds left on the clock down 20-6. A long shot is an airball with about 35 seconds remaining, but the Barrons get the rebound and hold for one final shot, a three at the buzzer that hits front iron as time runs out. That would have been a violation, giving the ball back to East Brunswick with the shot clock off with 24 seconds remaining in the period.
- 2nd Quarter: Woodbridge gets a rebound off a missed East Brunswick free throw with the clock stopped at 43.1 seconds. Down the other end, Jayden Cummings gets called for an offensive foul on a drive to the basket, and the clock stops at 7.3, which would have made that a 35.8 second possession. In slow-mo, the whistle blows at 7.3, but the shot clock buzzer would have gone off at 8.1. If the officials had replay, they’d see contact right about at 8.1 Without it, they’d have to decide which happened first, the foul/whistle or the horn. We’ll call it a violation, which would have bailed out Cummings on the foul
- 3rd Quarter: none
- 4th Quarter: none
Summary: There’s at least one clear violation here, maybe a second. Either way, what’s most notable here that in a blowout win by 24, even with backups in, there were no second-half shot clock violations. Both teams were working their offense.
January 22, 2026 – Girls’ Basketball: No. 4 Hillsborough 70, No. 6 East Brunswick 52
The Raiders led this one by 18 at the half, and won by the same margin, though the Bears cut it to ten on two different occasions in the fourth quarter. Hillsborough simply pulled away at the end.
- 1st Quarter: none
- 2nd Quarter: East Brunswick holds the ball for 61 seconds, from the 1:34 mark until a miss with 23 seconds left on the clock, with Hillsborough getting the rebounds, clearly a shot clock violation.
- 3rd Quarter: Hillsborough has the ball starting from the 7:15 mark, and runs it to about 6:34, when the ball is knocked out of bounds by the Bears, with the Raiders maintaining possession, scoring four seconds later on a layup by Morgan Bice. That inbound would have never happened, as the shot clock would have expired at the 6:40 mark. Another ‘Boro possession starting at around 4:48 on the clock ended with an Isabelle Ruh layup that would have been very close to a violation, but too difficult to tell without the actual clock.
- 4th Quarter: Hillsborough has the ball from around the 7:04 mark (off an East Brunswick made basket) to 6:45, when head coach Courtney Tierney calls a timeout. They eventually draw an East Brunswick foul at the 6:25 mark, which would reset the clock. That possession lasted 39 seconds, and would have been whistled dead before the foul.
Summary: At least three, potentially four violations – one on East Brunswick, three on Hillsborough.
January 22, 2026 – Boys’ Basketball: Sayreville 57, Colonia 49
This was a tight one throughout, and also the game where Sam Jones became the school’s all-time leading scorer, boys’ or girls’, passing Rhonda Rompola less than a week after breaking Steve Makwinski’s boys’ record.
- 1st Quarter: There was one close one here, as Colonia clearly held the ball for the last shot of the period. They got the ball with around 38 seconds left, and drew a foul on the baseline with about a second to go as the Patriots scrambled for a buzzer-beater. This might have drawn a shot clock violation, depending on the exact time the ball was touched by the receiving Colonia player on the inbound.
- 2nd Quarter: none
- 3rd Quarter: Colonia inbounds off a stopped clock at the 1:05 mark, and is called for a travel at the 29.4-second mark. This likely would have been a shot clock violation – assuming the shot clock and game clock operator were in exact sync – though with the travel call, it would have been a turnover regardless.
- 4th Quarter: none
Summary: Two possible Colonia violations, but too close to say definitively.
February 3, 2026 – Girls’ Basketball: No. 3 Gill St. Bernard’s 67, No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas 62
The lead in this one went back and forth in the first half, with five lead changes, and the Trojans led 28-24 at the half.
- 1st Quarter: none
- 2nd Quarter: St. Thomas inbounds the ball after a Gill made basket, and the shot clock would start once the ball is possessed on the inbound, at 37.2 seconds remaining in the half. At 3.9 a shot hits the rim; close, but not a violation, as the shot clock would have reset 33.3 seconds into the possession. The Trojans beat the clock by under two seconds.
- 3rd Quarter: none
- 4th Quarter none
Summary: Not a single violation.
OVERALL: In four basketball games, 128 minutes of regulation basketball, we saw four clear-cut violations in all: three in one game, one in another, and none in the other two. There were four additional “too close to call” violations, including one that would have resulted in a turnover on an offensive foul.
Ultimately, there may be other games between lesser teams – or maybe teams that play a different defense – that are low scoring and see a lot of long possessions. We looked at some higher-level games, with three of them featuring at least one team ranked at the time, and the fourth featuring teams that had been or are currently ranked. We don’t think it would have made much of a difference, especially since there isn’t currently a shot clock, and teams generally aren’t paying attention to the length of the possessions.
That could mean these games would have featured fewer shot clock violations than there actually were. But on the other hand, having a shot clock could lead to defenses forcing the issue more, harassing the team with the ball, or even some teams feeling the pressure of time ticking down. That could lead to more violations, or even more turnovers if the play gets frantic late in the shot clock.
But ultimately, coaches will adjust to that, and we believe the overall play will be better in the long-term as a result.
