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Nate Minnoy's statement about what happened,from the Chicago Sun-Times:
First of all, I would like to say I don't care what my persona looks like to fans, referees, teammates, media and coaches.
To answer the first question that comes to mind, I have anger-management issues -- that's what you call being human. I am a very competitive person, and I always want to win. And, no, I wasn't even thinking about Ron Artest. Sometimes, I feel like Shaq. I am the hardest player in the state to guard and to referee for. I can play through a lot of fouls but not intentional ones.
The last two games I played at the Big Dipper were two of the most physical games I have played in my high school career. The game Tuesday against Rich Central might have been just as rough without all the heckling. On Wednesday against Bloom, it was a very physical game. I don't really mind getting fouled, as long as the referees either call it or allow me to play with the same aggressiveness when I'm on defense.
Once again, Bloom's coach assigned two players to play me very physically. In the stands, the father of one of these guys and his friends heckled me the entire game. After shooting a free throw -- from a foul by his son -- I was running back down the court to get back on defense when this guy and his friends continued to talk to me, and he was giving his son instructions on how to foul me better.
I went to the referee who heard these guys, and he just shrugged like there was nothing he could do. That was enough. I stopped, walked up to these guys and told them to shut up. I took one step in the stands. I made it to the fifth row. The next thing I knew, I was surrounded by the Richton Park police and Rich South security.
Because this was my second technical of the game (I had an earlier tech for speaking to the referee with strong words about the fouls I had been getting), I was ejected. I went to the locker room, and after a few minutes, the police came in and said I was being charged with assault. The other player's father also was led out of the gym. We both were charged with a misdemeanor under the school's zero-tolerance policy. With the altercation that occurred in Monday's late game, the police were going to make sure nothing else happened. Shortly after, the police dropped the assault charges but gave us both a ticket.
I felt like it was a point in time where I had to defend myself, even if I couldn't do it through the course of a basketball game. I hope you can understand how I felt.
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