Ref told defender put your hands down!

Last game of the year last Friday night for our 5th grade boys team. PG for opposition brings ball down passes to teammate on wing, our defender quickly closes out, hands high, defensive stance and ref says to him 'Put Your Hands Down'. Thought I heard him wrong so asked the player on the bench next to me and that's what he heard.

We play Iowa High School rules plus in this particular league no full court press and man defense only (not that either of those would impact this play). Took place in second half and was going to ask Ref about it after game but he was gone quickly. And he is not a new ref, having done plenty of our games over the past three years and one of the better ones in my opinion.

So, has anyone every heard of this before? Maybe we heard wrong and being the last game of the season wont make a difference just kind of bugging me at this point.

Thanks

Hard to say without seeing what really happened, but the official could have determined the defender was "face guarding".

A player shall not commit an unsporting foul. This includes acts...such as:
d. Purposely obstructing an opponents vision by waving or placing hand(s) near his/her eyes.

It would be different if the player was in the act of shooting.