I was working a game Sat., two man, when a strange situation happened. This is my second year refing, and my partners first year. A couple minutes into the game, I'm trail, table-side, as player A drives the lane. Player A loses his dribble and the ball is rolling across the court when I hear a player from Team B's bench yell "f****** n***** can't even dribble the ball. (Also, Team B is all white, and Team A is all black.) I turn to look at the bench, trying to figure out what player said it, but apparently my partner was too, so neither of us were watching the court when the ball rolled out of bounds. We stopped the game and assessed an unsportsmanlike technical on Team B's bench, and then went to the AP arrow for possession. Well, Coach B lost it and came over screaming different cuss words and racial slurs right in my face. I whacked him, trying to call a flagrant technical, but before I could, an assistant coach from A came charging over and tackled Coach B. Eventually all the coaches but one (head coach A) got in the fight and were ejected. After we sorting out all the T's, we continued the game with Team B having no coach, but all the players from both teams were on their best behavior.
Couple of questions. Have you guys seen anything like this before? What would you have done in this situation? How could we have done a better job in this game? Thanks.

Where did this happen?

Bad, bad scene- and a tough one for a new official to handle. I think that you did a great job under very tough circumstances. The only thing that I might have done differently was that I would have suspended the game, rather than continue it without a coach on the team B bench. This incident requires a full write-up to the league, league administrators, etc. Coach B should disappear for a long, long time for his actions, imo.

What level was this, anyway?

What a nightmare! I'm glad it was you and not me. My only concern is that the gam continued without a coach for one of the teams. In my area, if there is no one on the bench who is a certified coach (has CPR training, etc) to supervise the kids, the game ends.

Also, if this had happened to me, I would have handled the post-fight situation differently. I think that this type of thing leaves VERY hard feelings on both sides...I would have ended the game at that point, made note of the score and the time left and who had possession and who would have been shooting foul shots at the time. I would have directed both teams to their locker rooms. It would have been up to the league or other managing body to decide whether to complete the game in the future and to punish the offending coaches/players.

This is the type of incident that can easily lead to a true riot with all of the dangers of that kind of conflict and resulting in a major police response to the gym.

JV HS Boys, in St. Louis

and there were trainers on both benches, just no coach on one team...

My first bit of advice is to write down what happened, as accurately and word-for-word as you can. Chances are good that you're going to need to file some reports, testify to at least one school board (possibly both), and possibly even testify in court. The sooner you write it all down, the better your recollection will be. Have your partner do the same.
Frankly, this almosts sounds like a coach who wants to get fired; as any coach should know the penalty for the racial slurs. Beyond the game penalty (ejection and suspension), he's likely to get fired over this (I would hope so if it happened as you say). You'll need to CYA by writing it all down now so as to avoid any possible inconsistencies that might come from memory lapse.
By the way, how'd you get the adults to stop fighting? Police escort?

snaqwells is right on. Get busy writting. Get a copy of the game tape asap. Also, I would not do any more games for that team.

Point of Comparison
 

Sort of puts the whole 'mouthy cheerleader' problem into perspective, doesn't it?

Okay, SFull3. I just reread the post, here's a point for future reference. No need to go to the AP for possession after this technical foul. The technical foul would give A possession at the division line, and the AP woudn't even be used. You don't need to know who knocked the ball out of bounds, because it isn't relevant if it happened before the "T."

Now, I've got another question. Did you assess indirect T's to A's head coach for each of his assistants who got in the fight? Are you supposed to in a fight situation?

Never seen anything quite like this. I would have ended the game when the coaches got into it. Never continue a game without a coach on the bench.

WOW.... That was a scene of mayhem!

Another tidbit of advice: Contact your officiating partner to compare your notes about the game. You want to have very similar reports for whomever wants you to "testify."

Snaqwells - good point about the AP. In the end, since we had plenty more T's, we did go division line throw in, but we messed up at first. On the indirect technicals, we gave them but he only had two assistant coaches, so only two indirects. I don't know if we were supposed to or not. This is the first fight I've ever had in a game, and it wasn't even players fighting. We had the police, serving as security, break up the fight and they also escorted us out at the end of the game. There was supposed to be a varsity game involving all the same coaches right after (that me and my partner were supposed to work), but we called that one. And I definitely won't be going back to either of those schools for many, many years.

Quick point - the original unsporting T needs to be assessed to a specific player. Figure out who it was, give them a flagrant T, or give nothing at all.

Mark, I was wondering about that, too. If you can't figure it out, could you warn the coach that if you hear anything like that again from his bench it will be a direct on him?