Expanding high school basketball’s overtime periods from three to four minutes has been met by favorable response in Eastern Maine.

That and several other rule changes have been approved by the National Federation Basketball Rules Committee.

Other changes include coaches being ejected after two direct technical fouls instead of three; a team being assessed a technical for game-delaying huddles or contact with a person taking a free throw after being warned; players ejected from a game for a flagrant foul remaining on the bench; and referees authorized to deal with players sporting long or dangerous fingernails and inappropriate hairstyles.

Also, the points of emphasis for referees will include reducing taunting, baiting and rough play.

“I like the four-minute overtime,” said Presque Isle High School boys coach Tim Prescott. “It would make it more like a normal quarter. You would play it as a fourth-quarter situation as opposed to an end-of-the-game situation. It would be too early to hold the ball.”

“Scoring will be a little bit higher. Overtimes will be a little more interesting. A lot of things can happen in a half-quarter,” said Schenck High School boys coach Steve Levasseur of East Millinocket.

“If you get behind by a couple of scores in overtime, that extra minute certainly gives you more time to come back,” said Orono boys coach Dave Paul. “But if you get into foul trouble, the extra minute could hurt you.”

“Three minutes goes by real quickly,” said Brewer girls coach Lauree Gott. “This will give both teams more possessions and will make it tougher to stall if you get a lead.”

“I would rather see 10-minute periods and a shot clock,” said Bangor boys coach Roger Reed.

The free throw line huddle met with mixed opinion.

“I don’t agree with it,” said Gott. “The few seconds it takes to have a huddle helps teams gain their composure and momentum. It lets people gather their thoughts. They can make sure they know who they’re covering on defense.”

Paul agreed. “With only four timeouts, you need to find ways to get things across to the kids,” he said.

Prescott disagreed. “I’m for anything that expediates the play process. It’ll also mean coaches will have to do their homework in practice instead of on the court during a game.”

“It’ll put the burden on the referees to speed up the game,” said Stearns girls coach Jerry Burleigh of Millinocket.

“I don’t see that as much of a problem because the referees do a real nice job speeding up the game,” said Rockland girls coach Terry Kenniston.

The concensus was that coaches deserve to get ejected if they pick up two direct technicals and that there is no place for taunting, baiting and trash talk that is filtering down into the high school game from the pros and colleges.

Gott said fingernails are a problem that needed to be addressed “especially with the blood rule now. In a crucial situation, you don’t want your best player to be dug by a fingernail and have to come out of the game because she is bleeding.”

Coaches also liked the idea of making sure an ejected player is supervised.

“It certainly makes sense. A player removed from the game is upset, so you want to keep them on the bench so you can have some control of the situation,” said Kenniston. “You don’t want someone in the locker room by themselves if they aren’t in the right frame of mind.”

The changes

-Four-minute overtime periods instead of three minutes

-Following a team warning, a technical foul will be assessed for huddles or contact with a free throw shooter which delay the game

-Two direct technical fouls assessed to a coach will result in his or her ejection from the game. Three indirect technicals assessed to the coach, in which a player or person on his or her bench actually commits the infraction, results in the coach’s expulsion. A total of three technicals (i.e. one direct and two indirect) result in ejection.

-Referees are authorized to intervene if they have safety concerns relative to fingernail length or hairstyle.

-A player disqualified for a flagrant foul will be ejected to the bench and not to an area near the bench or another area where he or she may be unsupervised.

-A throw-in following a technical foul will be from the division line on the side opposite the scorer’s table.

-The restriction of breaking the plane of the free-throw line applies only to opponents of the free thrower.

-The three points of emphasis for 1994-95 will be addressing the issues of taunting and baiting; rough play and use of officials’ mechanics.