A benches-clearing brawl involving players, coaches and spectators ended a high school boys basketball game Tuesday night between LEAP Academy and St. Joseph (Hamm.).
The incident started after a foul in the second quarter and quickly escalated, with spectators from the bleachers and players and coaches from both benches getting involved, based on a video viewed by NJ Advance Media.
By New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association rule, “Any player that leaves the bench area during an altercation, regardless of whether the player engages in the altercation, shall be disqualified, and will be subject to the disqualification penalty.”
Players and coaches who are ejected are automatically disqualified from the team’s next two games, per NJSIAA rule. Teams that have compiled three or more disqualifications over a season are ineligible for the state playoffs, also by rule.
“Right before it happened, I thought for the first time that maybe I should pull my team off the floor and leave,” said St. Joseph (Hamm.) coach Paul Rodio. ”I saw it coming and should have just done it. There were [only] two refs, the scoreboard wasn’t working. It was a complete AAU circus.
“There were parents attacking one of my kids. I was getting hit on the side of the head and someone stomped on me. There was a lack of security and a lack of concern on their side,” Rodio added.
Typically, basketball games are officiated by three refs.
In a statement Wednesday, the NJSIAA said it is aware of the incident.
“NJSIAA is aware of the situation and gathering information from all parties,” NJSIAA spokesperson Mike Cherenson told NJ Advance Media.
St. Joseph athletic director Tim Fingerhut met with school president Stephen Cappuccio and Rodio on Wednesday morning with the understanding that the team won’t compete in the state playoffs.
“We’re trying to get to the bottom of everything, but we had six players leave the bench and all will receive an automatic disqualification,” Fingerhut told NJ Advance Media. “That being said, we’ll be knocked out of the Cape-Atlantic Tournament and the NJSIAA Tournament. I’m going to reach out to (NJSIAA chief compliance officer) Paul Popadiuk and see if anything can curtail this, but I don’t think anything can be done.
“The rule with players leaving the bench is really cut and dry. Rules are in place for a reason, and I get that.”
Said Rodio: “When you lose a big game, it hurts. This is like losing 1,000 games. I’m going to see what we can do to appeal this, but I don’t know if they will. I’ll plead for something but I don’t know if it’s possible.”
LEAP head coach Gregory Shoultz did not return a message seeking comment. When reached Wednesday morning, LEAP Academy athletic director Michael DiNuova declined to comment.
