The high school basketball game between Craig County and Narrows in the state of Virginia devolved into chaos with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. A fight broke out amongst the players, which led to an ejection.
Coaches and parents also got involved in the kerfuffle.
There have been a lot of unfortunate incidents of this nature in high school basketball all across the country in the last few weeks. What has gotten into people?!
Craig County conceded the win to Narrows.
Craig County High School is located in the small town of New Castle, Virginia, approximately 30 miles from Roanoke. It enrolls only 261 students in Grades 6-12.
Narrows High School is almost as small. It is located right on the West Virginia border, about 30 miles east of Blacksburg, with a total enrollment of only 290 students in Grades 8-12.
These two high school basketball programs both compete on the Class 1 level of competition for schools with 475 or fewer students. The Rockets of Craig County dropped to 4-8 with a loss on Thursday night. The Green Waves of Narrows improved to 9-6 with the win.
Virginia high school basketball turned into a brawl.
This specific incident took place with just under two minutes remaining in the game. It started when a Craig County player collided with a Narrows player who had just set a pick. The latter fell to the floor when the former made contact. A Flagrant 2 foul, by rule, results in an immediate ejection.
Rockets head coach Jimmy Fisher decided to call it a day in that moment. He removed his team from the court early to grant the Green Waves with a 69-43 victory.
“We had a kid ejected for a flagrant 2, and it wasn’t, and I just thought for the safety of the kids, we just needed to end this one,” Fisher told The Roanoke Times. “That’s why we walked off. It’s got nothing to do with points or any of that, it was just a safety thing.”
And then it got ugly.
A group of three spectators walked onto the court to confront the Narrows bench shortly after Craig County had left the floor. An attempt to deescalate the situation led to the opposite outcome.
What started as a verbal exchange between the players and the spectators turned physical. Pushing and shoving escalated to punches being thrown. An attempt to restrain one of the combatants led to even more violence. It was not good.
Fortunately, the Green Waves were able to get back to the locker room mostly unscathed. Threats of formal charges from/by the police helped cooler heads to prevail.
Craig County Public Schools released the following statement:
“We are aware of the serious incident that occurred during the boys’ high school basketball game against Narrows High School last night. Emotions escalated both on the court and in the stands, resulting in an altercation involving students and adults. We are working closely with those most impacted and offering appropriate resources. Our division is working closely with the Giles County Public Schools administration and local law enforcement to fully investigate what took place. We are also following all relevant board policies and procedures to ensure appropriate consequences are issued for those involved. Maintaining a safe, respectful, and positive environment for our student-athletes, families, and fans remains our top priority. We are committed to upholding the values of sportsmanship and school pride in all of our athletic events.”
— Craig County Public Schools
Narrows returned to the court with a win on Friday. Craig County will not play again until Tuesday.
It is currently unclear as to whether any players from either team are going to be punished. The player who was ejected must serve an automatic one-game suspension.