How to Use jump ball in a Sentence

jump ball

noun
  • Play was stopped for about a minute before the game resumed with a jump ball.
    — Chantz Martin, FOXNews.com, 4 June 2026
  • What was her reaction to getting to do the game-opening jump ball?
    — Danny Davis, Austin American Statesman, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Play resumed with a jump ball at midcourt that the Knicks controlled.
    — CBS News, 18 Nov. 2025
  • The Warriors won the jump ball but couldn’t score, sending the game to overtime.
    — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 6 Mar. 2026
  • Play was paused for a minute, and eventually resumed after a jump ball.
    — Daniel S. Levine, PEOPLE, 4 June 2026
  • Purdy loves throwing jump balls and Evans is one of the greats in that department.
    — Ted Nguyen, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2026
  • The incident caused the game to be paused for a short time before play got back underway with a jump ball.
    — Ben Church, CNN Money, 4 June 2026
  • Gray missed a shot in the lane but, following a tie-up, the Aces won a jump ball to set up the go-ahead shot.
    — ABC News, 17 May 2026
  • Eventually, play resumed with a jump ball.
    — Anna Lazarus Caplan, PEOPLE, 4 June 2026
  • With the ball loose at the time of the goal-tending call, there was a jump ball between the two teams to determine possession.
    — Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 18 Nov. 2025
  • Herbert went back to Lambert-Smith two plays later on a jump ball in the back right corner of the end zone.
    — Daniel Popper, New York Times, 17 Aug. 2025
  • Henry ran a corner route, and later caught a jump ball Maye flipped while under pressure to convert on third down.
    — Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 3 Dec. 2025
  • The Knicks won the jump ball and had one final chance to tie or win the game in regulation, but could not take advantage.
    — Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 18 Nov. 2025
  • Ben Collins—The Onion, my former colleague—was talking about a jump ball the other day.
    — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 15 May 2026
  • After a jump ball, Miles chased down the ball at midcourt, started to drive and passed to Hof, whose layup at the buzzer did not fall.
    — Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 10 May 2026
  • Lakers were furious about the way that jump ball was officiated.
    — Devon Henderson, New York Times, 9 May 2026
  • The play was pretty much a jump ball in the back of the end zone that is pretty much there anytime North Crowley wants to dial it up.
    — Darren Lauber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Nov. 2025
  • Oklahoma State made two free throws to get within three points and the Cowgirls forced a jump ball to regain possession.
    — Dallas Morning News, 6 Mar. 2026
  • Game officials weren’t able to determine who had possession at the time of the interruption, so a jump ball ensued.
    — Jacob Lev, CNN Money, 4 June 2026
  • Which is, on paper, a savvy complement to Sutton, who can move the chains, body up smaller foes outside the hashes and win jump balls in the end zone.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 21 Mar. 2026
  • Towns followed him, jumping onto Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye and forcing a jump ball.
    — Matt Moret, New York Times, 7 May 2026
  • Northwestern State lost an offensive possession because Judd hit the floor and won the jump ball for Texas.
    — Zoe Collins Rath, Austin American Statesman, 18 Dec. 2025
  • Fields features elite size (6-4, 218), reliable hands and creates mismatches on jump balls and fades.
    — Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2026
  • At 6-foot-3 and 165 pounds, Mack flourishes in jump ball situations but there are layers to his game.
    — Dan Albano, Oc Register, 5 Aug. 2025
  • Tyree, who’d been struggling to make catches all week long, won the jump ball over Rodney Harrison and used his helmet to secure it safely to the ground.
    — Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 5 June 2026
  • Scheierman, who also had seven assists, six rebounds, two steals and a block, outmuscled Carter on the ensuing possession to force a jump ball and help secure the win.
    — Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 13 Apr. 2026
  • Needing to avoid a five-second call, McDaniels threw a jump ball to Julius Randle, which was batted away by Lu Dort.
    — Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 27 Nov. 2025
  • But Oklahoma State sank a pair of free throws and a jump ball was called on an inbound pass, the possession arrow pointing to OSU.
    — Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 6 Mar. 2026
  • Humphrey lacks speed, but the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder used his size to snag a 34-yard jump ball on third-and-12 to keep the Giants’ opening possession alive.
    — Dan Duggan, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2025
  • Some confusion led to a 50/50 jump ball, which Miami won and worked in a cross, and Germán Berterame headed it in at the back post.
    — Braidon Nourse, Denver Post, 19 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'jump ball.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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