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Old Mon Mar 13, 2006, 02:00pm
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By Jody Demling
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The Courier-Journal

There was plenty of action on the court last night during the Sixth and Seventh Region high school boys' basketball tournaments at Louisville Gardens, but there was a lot of drama off the court, too.

There was a flap with officials who eventually were unassigned from the Male-Jeffersontown game. There also was an altercation between two officials at halftime of the DeSales-Western game.

Police escorted both of those officials from the arena.

"It's the ugliest situation I have ever seen with officials," said Rip Hatfield, the local assigning secretary.

It started with the second Seventh Region semifinal in which J'town beat Male 60-47. Tournament officials said three referees -- Darin Stanfield, Alfred Smith and John Boylan -- had been assigned to the game.

Hatfield said J'town principal Marsha Dohn and athletic director Jeff Edwards had been in contact yesterday with him about the officials he had assigned.

"They were concerned because two of the officials had gone to Male," Hatfield said, noting Smith and Stanfield were graduates. "I did not know until today that they were Male graduates."

Hatfield said he tried to call Kentucky High School Athletic Association assistant commissioner Larry Boucher, who is in charge of officials, but was unable to reach him yesterday.

"So I asked (Seventh Region Tournament manager) Joe Rogers, and we thought the best thing to do was to make a change because of the concern," Hatfield said.

Richard Price and Rick Browning, who were to work later games, replaced Smith and Stanfield.

"I'm not mad they changed the officials," Male coach Tom Crews said. "I am mad because they have had since Tuesday. Why do it late in the afternoon on game day? I didn't even get a chance to respond. I feel like J'town got to scratch two officials."

But that wasn't the end of the controversy.

During halftime of the DeSales-Western game, official Vic Montgomery, who was working the game, and Darrell Bailey, who was scheduled to work the final game, got involved in a verbal exchange that carried into the arena.

Montgomery and Bailey were escorted from the arena. Montgomery was replaced for the second half, and Bailey was replaced in the Doss-Pleasure Ridge Park game.

"When it spills over out of that locker room, those two gentlemen are to be dealt with just like unruly fans," said Sixth Region Tournament director Dan Shepard, the athletic director at Butler. "If it was a parent, we would ask them to leave, and that's exactly what happened here."

Montgomery told The Courier-Journal last night that the incident concerned rumors about him getting Stanfield and Smith removed from the previous game.

"There was a rumor out that I am the one that got Darin and Alfred taken off the Male-J'town game, and it wasn't me," said Montgomery, also a Male grad.

Hatfield and tournament officials said they weren't sure about the details of the incident.

article 2

(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) -- A controversy Saturday night at a high school basketball regional championship -- that has nothing to do with the action on the floor. Ballard and Jeffersontown were supposed to square off in the championship game for Region Seven with the winner going to next week's state tournament in Lexington. But as WAVE 3's Janelle MacDonald reports, the game never got started because of an incident off the court.

Ballard and J-town came to play. The two teams were ready -- so were the fans, but the problem is Kentucky high school athletic officials weren't ready to let them.

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association had to choose between letting referee Vic Montgomery work the game or not playing.

On Friday night, Montgomery was ejected from a game after getting into a verbal confrontation during halftime with another official.

"To call me a 'boy' several times to my face, he might as well have called me a 'n*****'," said Montgomery.

Saturday, Montgomery got a lawyer -- who got an injunction from the court preventing the 7th Region Final from going forward -- without Montgomery in the game.

"All that had to happen is let me officiate the game that I was slated to work," Montgomery said.

Athletic association officials didn't comment on camera. Ballard and Jeffersontown's coaches did, saying they wouldn't have minded Montgomery officiating the game. But more than anything, they're disappointed.

"I don't blame Vic for anything because he feels like he's doing what he has to do. Right, wrong or indifferent, whether I agree or disagree is not the point. But I think a lot of people made some bad decisions," said Ballard coach Chris Renner.

"In your wildest dreams, you couldn't imagine this scenario," said Jeffersontown coach Jeff Morrow. "You're jacked up and keyed up to try to win a regional championship and then you've got to go home without even playing a game. That's mind boggling."

According to announcers at the arena, the 7th Region championship game is now tentatively scheduled for sometime Monday. Coaches are concerned because the winner of that game would play again Wednesday night in the Sweet Sixteen at Rupp Arena.
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The trouble with officials is they just don't care who wins.

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Old Mon Mar 13, 2006, 02:21pm
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Sounds like this whole problem started because of one of the 3 forms of communication: 1) telephone; 2) telefax; and 3) tell-a-ref!

I think AT&T did a study which showed rumors actually travel faster via tell-a-ref than either telephone or telefax...imagine that?
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