NJSIAA vote passes for New Jersey high school basketball shot clock
New Jersey high school basketball will see a big change over the coming years.
The ballot item to introduce a shot clock to the state passed at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) membership meeting on Monday afternoon by a vote of 170-166, as first reported by Darren Cooper of Varsity Aces.
The Garden State becomes the 33rd to institute a 35-second shot clock in basketball. The new ruling will be fully put in place at the start of the 2027-28 season.
The proposal narrowly exceeded the minimum of 169 votes to pass.
In 2021, the National Federation of High School Sports (NFHS) first approved a 35-second shot clock before the 2022-23 season, with New Jersey becoming the latest state to implement it this week.
An initial proposal for the shot clock came in January, presented to the Executive Committee by Montgomery athletic director and basketball coach Kris Grundy, as well as former Hudson Catholic coach and current Christian Brothers Academy athletic director Nick Mariniello.
A major piece of the proposal was the need to move the game forward in New Jersey, while potential concerns at the time were around the cost of money and man-power to institute the shot clock statewide.
In the end, the item narrowly passed, and starting in 2027-28, basketball in New Jersey will have a slightly different look.
In February, Mike Pavlichko of Central Jersey Sports Radio observed four random high school basketball games in Somerset and Middlesex Counties — two boys and two girls games — and found four instances of “clear-cut” shot-clock violations, and four “too close to call” violations, over 128 minutes of play.
Also in the Monday meeting, other ballot items included an 80-second shot clock in lacrosse, and the sanctioning of girls’ flag football.
The lacrosse shot clock item failed by a vote of 166 “no” votes and 149 “yes” votes, with 21 abstentions. Girls’ flag football will be a sanctioned state championship sport starting in the spring of 2027 by an overwhelming approval vote of 311-18, with five abstentions, all reported by Harper on Monday.
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