Great Falls Basketball
Synopsis of House League Playing Rules

Boys Grade 3

Here is a summary of key House League playing rules.  We encourage review of the complete set of rules located on the GF Hoops website to be fully informed of game operations and rule modifications. 

Key Rules Common To All Age Groups:

• Players may not wear rings, watches, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, exercise monitoring gear, hard casts and finger splints (even if wrapped). Medical alert bracelets are permitted.
• A game consists of four (4) quarters of eight (8) minutes each, with a three (3) minute halftime. 
• Games are played with a running clock except on free-throws, timeouts, game official administration and the final minute of the 4^th quarter.
• Each player MUST play in two (2) complete quarters, one (1) in each half; no player may play more than three (3) full quarters unless all other players will have played at least three (3) full quarters which can include the 4^th quarter.
• Substitutions are only permitted due to injury, illness or disqualification and half-way through the 4^th quarter.
• A lane violation is three (3) seconds. The count suspends when the ball is shot and resets when a player on either team obtains possession. 
• Players may enter the lane when the free-throw shooter releases the ball.
• Each team is allowed two (2), one (1) minute time-outs per half that do not carry over.
• Overtime periods are three (3) minutes using a stop clock and each team is allowed one (1), one (1) minute timeout per period and do not carry over. 
• A team forfeits if unable to field four (4) players within five (5) minutes of a scheduled game start.
• If a team leads by 20 or more points, the clock will continuously run, excluding timeouts, injuries and game official administration, until the score differential falls below 15 points.
• If a game runs late, the subsequent game will have an abbreviated warm-up period of five (5) minutes.

Grade Group Specific Rules Summary:

• No zone defense.
• No full court defense.
• No isolation offense.
• Teams must play man-to-man defense 

(1) within a reasonable “arm’s-length” distance when on the ball side of the court OR 

(2) within an identifiable position of and move in conjunction with the assigned offensive player when not on the ball side of the court

• No defensive player can be permanently stationed in the lane.
• No defense can be played beyond the three-point line until the ball initially crosses the three-point line within five (5) seconds of entering the front court of the offensive team.
• Double teaming (help defense) is permitted when an offensive player has possession of the ball inside the lane and is considered an imminent threat to score.
• If the clock is stopped when the offensive team has possession of the ball in the backcourt, the clock will not restart until the ball crosses the mid-court line within ten seconds as counted by the game official.
• Basket height=9-feet; Ball size=27.5”; Free-throw line=13-feet
• No three-point-shot scored.
• Regular season standings are kept; Post-season tournament will be played.
• No All Stars selected.