Audio By Carbonatix
A high school basketball game in Pennsylvania came to an abrupt end on Saturday after fans stormed onto the court during a bench-clearing brawl between Aliquippa and Imani Christian. They were not allowed to continue the contest because of the overly-involved response to a fairly insignificant fracas.
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association will likely issue multiple suspensions to players on both teams. Per NHFs rules, a substitute who leaves the bench during a fight is assessed a flagrant foul and disqualified from the game.
This most recent incident took place with 4:23 remaining in the second quarter. It started with a highly-contested rebound and quickly escalated from there. An Aliquippa player appeared to push an Imani Christian player to the floor, which led to some additional shoving back and forth.
If that was the extent of the issue, Quips head coach Nick Lakovich believes the officials would’ve been able to resolve the situation. No punches were thrown. The game could’ve played on. However, fans of both high school basketball state champions stormed onto the court and got involved with the skirmish.
Here’s video of the scene that ended the Aliquippa vs. Imani Christian boys basketball game early on Saturday.
— Chris Harlan (@CHarlan_Trib) January 19, 2025
Quips coach Nick Lackovich said he believed officials would’ve resolved the situation and the game could’ve continued if spectators had stayed in their seats. pic.twitter.com/Gh2qxCO3Og
At that point, officials determined that there was no way to continue.
It was more of a spectator issue than a player issue. Two guys catch the same ball on a rebound, they call a jump ball and nobody wants to let go. That happens a lot in games.
— Aliquippa head coach Nick Lackovich
The scene looked much worse than it actually was. Although some of the players did leave the bench during the dust-up, it was the spectators who caused the game to be canceled prior to completion.
They weren’t really doing anything. I think everybody was trying to hold everybody back. There were no punches thrown or anything […]
It was just pushing and shoving. Before you even know it, the bench emptied. When the benches empty, they call the game.
— Even organizer Allen Deep
Imani Christian trailed Aliquippa by one point at the time of the incident. It was going to be an awesome battle between two Pennsylvania powerhouses that was forced to end early because of the fans, not the players. That’s a real shame.
And if the PIAA adheres to its rulebook, every single player who left the bench will receive an automatic one-game suspension. Both programs will be shorthanded in their next game.