After years of debate, the shot clock is coming to high school basketball in Idaho.

The Idaho High School Activities Association approved the use of a 35-second shot clock in both boys and girls basketball beginning as soon as next season at Wednesday’s board meeting and instituted its use at state tournaments beginning with the 2023-24 season.

The motion passed as a final reading with a unanimous vote.

The IHSAA left the decision on whether or not to implement the shot clock for the regular season and district tournament up to the individual conferences, stating they didn’t want to be in a position of dictating to schools that they need to add a shot clock.

Conferences will have the option to implement it at any level they wish, varsity, junior varsity or freshman levels. Any school in Idaho that does use a shot clock will need to follow guidelines for its use as revised by the National Federation of State High School Associations earlier this year. Those guidelines will be distributed by the IHSAA to individual schools.

Calls for a shot clock in Idaho have been coming up for a while now, seemingly reigniting whenever a team is accused of using stall tactics to slow the game down at the state tournament. Perhaps the most infamous incident came during the 2001 5A girls state championship between Borah and Boise, which Borah won 17-7.

In recent years, the debate has picked up as several states across the country, including neighboring states of Washington, which has had a shot clock for a decade, and Utah and Montana, which are both instituting a shot clock beginning next season. According to an article published last month by the NFHS, the IHSAA will become the 18th association in the country to approve the use of a shot clock, in either a full or limited capacity.