Tag: running clock

by Mike Pavlichko

Local hoops coaches supportive of NJSIAA’s new H.S. Basketball mercy rule, running clock

With the NJSIAA instituting a statewide running clock mercy rule in high school basketball – standardizing the previously-optional rule across New Jersey – it will certainly have effects on many games and programs this winter.

The intent, of course, is to prevent mammoth blowouts, or at least keep them from getting further out of hand.. Now, when a score differential reaches 35 points in the second half, the clock will run continuously, only to be stopped for time outs, injuries, technical fouls, or officials’ stoppages. It will only return to normal if the game reaches overtime, which is a longshot.

But there are other effects, too. We’ve seen a couple running clock games in recent years, since the Skyland Conference already had such a rule, and the Greater Middlesex Conference was set to institute it this year, albeit at 30 points. (Now, 35 will be the statewide standard.)

For one, the games now go a lot faster. But that also means there’s less time to get bench players in the game, which could hinder development.

We asked a few coaches in the GMC and Somerset County what they thought of the rule, and many seem to be in favor of it.

One of the reasons the GMC decided to forge ahead was the many blowouts – even with bench players in – that St. Thomas Aquinas had been involved in. Winners of the last six GMC Tournament titles, they’ve dominated the league for years, but last year, it became a different story. Against seven other division opponents – Colonia, East Brunswick, Monroe, North Plainfield, Old Bridge, Piscataway and South Brunswick – they won by 45.1 points per game, on average. And in four GMC Tournament games, their average margin of victory was 59.5 points.

Head coach Tim Corrigan says it likely won’t affect his team in non-conference play, but it will in their league.

“Overall, it’s probably a good thing,” Corrigan tells Central Jersey Sports Radio. “The only downside to it that I see is the playing time for JV/swing players could be cut short as the clock runs in the second half.”

Overall, Corrigan believes the change is a “net positive” and “35 points is a reasonable number.”

The Monroe girls faced St. Thomas twice in the regular season and once in the GMCT final. And they came closer to Aquinas than anyone else in the Red Division.

Their first meeting – a 59-28 Aquinas win on January fourth – was STA’s sixth lowest point total of the season and second lowest scoring output in a win. The 29-point margin was their only Red Division game won by fewer than 30 points, and the game never reached 35. In fact, the deficit was just 12 going into the fourth quarter.

Monroe also beat Colonia by 33 (57-24) and Highland Park by 32 (66-34). So head coach Brian Hinz has seen it from both angles. Their two losses to Aquinas came by a 90-33 score in their second meeting, and 93-34 in the GMC Championship game.

“Having been on both sides of a blowout, I understand the need for a rule like this,” Hinz tells CJSR. “It’s not like the game just ends,” he notes, like it does in baseball.

“It still allows you to go deeper into your bench and help develop your players who look forward to and deserve those minutes in a lopsided game,” Hinz says.

“It will allow us as coaches to get out kids off the court quicker and into the locker room, where we can learn from it and move on to our next opponent,” Hinz added.

Kris Grundy, the boys’ coach at Montgomery – who also is the Cougars’ Athletic Director – considers another angle, too, saying it should also alleviate crowd issues. He says sometimes it can get tense in a blowout.

“We have all been there in those types of environments when teams feel embarrassed by the score and the clock seems to be standing still,” Grundy says. “It is ion those moments where that emotion can spill out onto the playing surface.”

“Hopefully, the running clock will help mitigate those types of situations for all as the second half will go extremely quickly.

basketball
by Mike Pavlichko

NJSIAA approves statewide implementation of running clock in H.S. basketball

Some rules created by NFHS – the National Federation of State High School Associations, which sets standard rules for high schools across the country – are optional, such as the shot clock in basketball. Others govern basic rules of all the sports played in high school, and must be followed.

While New Jersey is still one of several states that have not implemented the shot clock in basketball – often due to concerns about the added cost – one rule it will now implement statewide is that of a running clock.

NJSIAA Spokesman Mike Cherenson confirmed to Central Jersey Sports Radio Wednesday afternoon that its Executive Committee earlier in the day approved the “mercy rule” across the state.

Locally, the Skyland Conference already had it in place, as the rule has always been optional, until now. The NJIC has been using it, too. The Greater Middlesex Conference had voted to begin using it this year.

Now everyone will – girls’ and boys’ basketball – effective this upcoming season, 2025-26.

The measure was proposed by the NJSIAA staff along with the Basketball Committee and Leagues & Conferences.

According to the approved proposal, “Upon the start of the third quarter, if the score differential reaches 35 points or more, the clock will stop only for a time out, injury, technical foul, or when requested by the officials. Normal timing will not resume during the remainder of the game, with the exception of overtime. Any overtime period will resume normal timing.”

The GMC’s implementation of the running clock had a lot to do with lopsided scores in the Red Division on the girls’ side, which has been dominated now for several years by St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Trojans have won the last six GMC Tournament titles, but last year in the regular season, played at a completely different level. Against seven other division opponents – Colonia, East Brunswick, Monroe, North Plainfield, Old Bridge, Piscataway and South Brunswick – by a shade over 45 points a game. In four GMC Tournament games, their average margin of victory was 59.5 points per contest.

Their overall season differential per game was plus-27, including losses, and the county and state tournament.

NJSIAA Basketball Director Al Stumpf says the rule applies to “all varsity games” and adds “conferences have the option of using it [the NJSIAA rule] or their own mercy rule for the subvarsity levels.

In it’s rationale for the rule, included in the proposal put before the Executive Committee, the NJSIAA said its goal was to have a statewide adoption of the mercy rule to “bring consistency across all leagues and conferences and simplify application of the mercy rule for coaches and officials.”

Further, it adds, “this will mitigate the risk of confusion or arguments that can take place when member schools are competing in non-league/conference contests.”

Other NJSIAA sports have their version of the mercy rule. In football, a margin of 33 points or more kicks off the running clock automatically in the second half of a game. Baseball has a ten-run rule that ends a game any time after five innings of play, four-and-a-half if the home team is ahead by ten.

Soccer saw a mercy rule implemented for 2025 as well, where a game will end at the 20-minute mark of the second half if the goal differential is six or more. If the differential grows to six after the 20-minute mark, the game will come to an end, similar baseball. In that sport, if the run differential grows to ten or more after the fifth inning, the game will end at the conclusion of that inning or half-inning, depending on which team is in the lead.

by Mike Pavlichko

GMC joins growing trend, institutes running clock rule for basketball blowouts in 2025-26

Union County has been doing it, the Skyland Conference began using it this year, and the Greater Middlesex Conference has adopted it for 2025-26.

The GMC’s Athletic Directors Thursday night voted to institute a running clock rule that the NFHS has allowed as an option since the 2022-23 season. It will begin next year in the GMC for both girls’ and boys’ basketball.

Similar to what many know from football for several years now, the running clock would take effect when a team goes up by 30 points at any point in the second half. It could conceivably start right at the beginning of the second half if the halftime lead is 30 or more points.

The clock would go back to normal operation if the margin got back to ten points or less. (There’s no return to a normal clock in football.)

The idea is to speed up games that are blowouts so they don’t become even bigger blowouts.

“The reason I like the rule,” says GMC President Mike Pede, “is because if you’re up by 30 and you put other kids in the game to get a chance to play, you’re telling them ‘You can’t score, you can’t run our offense,’ and that’s not really fair to the kids who come to practice every day.”

“It’s going to be a 40 or 45 point game, which is better than 70,” Pede added.

The clock would only stop for injuries, time outs, or other official stoppages. It would not stop for out-of-bounds plays, jump balls, foul shots, and the like.

Overall, reaction in leagues that have used it – like the Skyland Conference – have generally been positive; it’s seen as at least somewhat of a remedy for competitive imbalances that can’t always be accounted for on a year-to-year basis.