The Indiana High School Athletic Association brought an abrupt end to the seasons of two high school basketball teams after a benches-clearing brawl between the squads caused the cancellation of a game this past weekend.
The association announced on Tuesday that all regular-season games for the boys’ basketball teams from Hammond High School and Griffith High School have been cancelled, with each school forced to pay a $500.00 forfeiture fee for each remaining away contest on the teams’ schedules. Both teams are also suspended from participating in the state basketball tournament, and shall not receive any revenue from this year’s tournament, either.
Additionally, all varsity student-athletes on both teams must complete the “Sportsmanship” course on the National Federation of State High School Associations’ website, while each coach must complete the “Teaching and Modeling Behavior” course. Both teams will be placed on probation for the entire 2015-16 school year, which signifies that “serious violations have occurred, are a matter of record and future, similar incidents will not be tolerated.” If either team gets into additional trouble, it could lead to their entire school being suspended from the state high school association.
On Saturday, with Griffith leading 4-0 early in the game, Hammond’s Tim Echoles shoved Griffith’s Anthony Murphy in the back as he drove in for an easy fast-break layup,
per