G17 (ball return time limit) penalties in endgame

[sparrowkc]

<G17> BALL Return Timing - BALLS must be returned to the FIELD within a specified period of time to prevent delaying the game according to the following algorithm: Texpire = Tscore - [11 + (4 * n)]

Would a penalty be incurred if a ball was scored when there was not enough time for the human player to return it before the match was over? The discussions I see here seem to indicate that many people assume that it would be, but I'm not so sure.
Example scenario:

Clock reads 5 seconds left, and a single ball is scored.
Texpire = 5 - [11 + (4 * 0)] = -6

The clock will obviously never read negative six seconds. My interpretation is that no penalty would be incurred because Texpire will never be reached, and my opinion is that If the GDC didn't mean for that to be the case, they would have added a >=0 to the G17 equation.

Forgive me if this has already been discussed or if I am missing something that makes this clear.


Edit:
Also, I think this interpretation would be in the spirit of the rule

...to prevent delaying the game..

since you can't delay the game when the game is over.