Downtown Magnets defeated Dorsey during the first round of the high school basketball playoffs in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the game ended with a bizarre incident during which a player on the losing team threw punches at a referee.
It was wild.
The player involved with the unfortunate altercation was a senior, so his high school basketball career is now over. The Los Angeles Unified School District opened an investigation into the altercation.
Downtown Magnets defeated Dorsey in the playoffs.
Downtown Magnets High School is an alternate magnet high school located in the Temple-Beaudry neighborhood near Downtown L.A. It enrolls approximately 1,000 students in Grades 9-12. Susan Miller Dorsey High School, best known as Dorsey, is a public high school located in the Baldwin Hills area of L.A. It enrolls approximately 800 students in Grades 9-12.
Both schools compete in the CIF Los Angeles City Section. They met in the first round of the boys high school basketball playoffs.
Patrick Lei dropped a double-double with 30 points and 10 rebounds. He lead the Suns to victory over the Dons. Downtown Magnets defeated Dorsey by a final score of 59-54 and 16 offensive rebounds proved to be the difference in the five-point win.
The 12-seed advanced to play King/Drew in the quarterfinal round of the Division-II CIF LA City Section playoffs. The 5-seed saw its season come to an abrupt and disappointing end.
A high school basketball player punched a referee.
A Dorsey high school basketball player walked across the court shortly after the final buzzer. He made a beeline right toward an official to give him a piece of his mind.
The player bumped into the referee and yelled at him angrily.
And then he bumped him again. The official very obviously flopped on contact, but the player did not stop yelling at him while he was on the ground.
Multiple adults and one of the angry Dons player’s teammates tried to deescalate the situation. They corralled the assailant for a moment but he was able to break free, at which point it got ugly. The Dorsey player charged back toward the official and started swinging. He threw three punches in total.
The official ducked the first punch and swiftly backed out of the way to avoid the next two. It also appears that he threw one quick punch back toward the player in self defense.
The referee gets confronted by a player after the buzzer
— Jack Pollon (@pollonpreps) February 12, 2026
Not good pic.twitter.com/HtgNQwnW6a
City Section commissioner Vicky Lagos has been in touch with school officials. According to CIF bylaw 210, “any student who physically assaults the person of a game or event official shall be banned from interscholastic athletics for the remainder of the student’s eligibility.”
LAUSD released the following statement:
“The Los Angeles Unified School District expects its student-athletes to meet high standards of conduct and sportsmanship. We have been made aware of an alleged incident after last night’s game at Dorsey High School. The matter is under review by the CIF LA City Section and us, and will be addressed in accordance with policy. Because this incident involves a student, federal and state privacy laws limit what we can share.”
It seemed as though the incident started with a regular foul call with about four minutes left in the game. The Dorsey player was called for a foul by the same official he attacked. He was subbed out of the game and picked up a technical foul on his way off of the court for saying something to the same official.
The player, a senior, did not return to the game. He swung on the referee after the loss.