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A high school basketball game in the state of California turned ugly thanks to a meaningless bucket that occurred as the final buzzer sounded.
The matchup between Aquinas and Inglewood ended in punches as a benches-clearing melee overshadowed on-court play.
Players, coaches, and even students appeared to get involved.
Inglewood picked up the win.
The did so on the road in Aquinas’s gym.
Inglewood High School is located in the Los Angeles metro area and is currently viewed as one of the top basketball programs in the state. It boasts a Top 30 ranking and is led by 5-star Missouri commit Jason Crowe, who’s averaging 44 points per game.
To this point, they’ve posted a 23-5 overall record. That included a 7-0 mark in league play. They’ve won 16 of their last 17 games, topping the 100-point threshold in a number of contests.
About 30 miles down the road in San Bernardino, Aquinas has gotten off to a perfect 5-0 start in league action while recording 14 wins in 25 regular season tries.
Understanding the magnitude of the game with a Top 5 nationally rated recruit in the building, the Aquinas fans showed out. The venue was packed. Many didn’t even have seats.
They might’ve been a bit too rowdy.
“I’m not sure Aquinas knew how to prepare for that,” said Inglewood head coach Jason Crowe Sr.
“And I want to be clear, I thought the staff and admin were great to us. It’s unfortunate what happened at the end of a great game, but the students were nearly on the court the whole game on one baseline. They were too close.”
Inglewood won the game, 91-78. As the Sentinels ran the final seconds from the clock, they fed the ball down low for a meaningless layup that wouldn’t count.
Chaos ensued.
A California high school basketball fight broke out.
Tarek Fattal of Sports Illustrated broke the scene down on his YouTube channel. It was utter disarray.
After the layup, the final buzzer sounded. Players walked back to their benches for postgame handshakes. One Aquinas player got into a verbal altercation with his Inglewood counterparts.
The Inglewood head coach attempted to deescalate the situation by grabbing the Aquinas player. Pushing and shoving then led to punches as students began to trickle onto the court.
“It was an unfortunate situation, we run a high-class program,” said Aquinas coach Daryl Pegram. “Emotions ran high. We hope these young can learn from it. It was a great game; it just sucked it ended that way.”
Inglewood coach Crowe responded while detailing the situation. He also placed some blame on the Aquinas coaching staff.
“He pushes. I step in between and wrap him up so he can stop, but we get pushed and neither of us have physical control anymore. We both go down…
“One of the Aquinas assistant coaches was talking [trash] to our players [in the first half]. So, the temperament and tone of the game changed. Up until then it was an exciting atmosphere.”
-Jason Crowe Sr.
The ugly scene overshadowed an otherwise competitive high school basketball game between to respected California programs. It will be interesting to see if punishments are handed down for the actions that transpired.