What a mess.
Of course I wasn't there, and of course I can see both sides of the argument, but for sure the PA authorities could hold their heads up higher & not avert anyone's eyes if they would simply have followed the letter of the fighting rules & let the chips fall where they might.
Quote:
The fight began as a Sto-Rox player, junior John Geiger, was attempting to inbound the ball in front of the Trinity bench when he whirled and struck Trinity sophomore guard Matt Wesner in the face with his knee. Geiger then struck Wesner twice with a closed first and missed a third punch as Trinity players and coaches attempted to push Geiger away.
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In the process, Sto-Rox player Adam DiMichele approached the fight but was rushed by Trinity player Jonathan Smith, a junior with senior eligibility. DiMichele initially avoided Smith, but the two eventually swung across the floor and ended up near the boundary across from the Sto-Rox bench.
Exactly what triggered Geiger's reaction is still unclear; last week's PIAA hearing into the matter was closed to the public.
However, in press interviews after the game, Geiger claimed he had been grabbed in the crotch area by a Trinity player and that prompted him to turn and strike, as it turned out, Wesner.
The Patriot-News reviewed two of the four available tapes of the incident in the office of Trinity athletics director Jim Hudson yesterday.
While there is no angle to confirm what happened to Geiger other than a tangling of feet, what could positively be confirmed is this: Wesner never touched Geiger.
A frame-by-frame review of the best angle, shot by abc27 photographer Mike Torchia, showed that Wesner, who was just to Geiger's left (in the camera angle), was sitting in his chair with his hands draped across his legs.
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After reading this I'm left feeling that if I was responsible for Wesner that Geiger kid would have left under police custody. There's a term for what he did: felony assault.