I would hope that no college would even consider bringing him into their program - I would hope he would be shunned by the college basketball world.

OTOH, I believe in forgiveness and second chances so maybe if he gets into some kind of anger management program and proves that he is rehabilitated, I might reconsider

+1

We are actually told every year that as game officials we can not "forfeit" a game and should never use that term. We can only "suspend" a game and the VHSL will decide what to do after that. Semnatics? Could be, but it is clarified for us on a yearly basis.

I would like to bring out the point that I thought this official did a good job getting the first foul, prior to the kerfluffle. Great job not ball watching and staying in his area.

By NFHS rule, of course, this is not true. The referee is given explicit authority to forfeit a game if circumstances warrant it. State athletic associations may modify that, but for any newbies reading this thread, you do have the authority to forfeit the game, by rule.

This is a serious error on the part of the official. A strong message needs to be sent here - that assault and battery will not be tolerated, and you'll pay a steep price for it. I'm hoping that the school administrators understand that if the kid will do this to an official, he'll do it to a teacher. Let him slide and he'll do it again. If you could go back in his history, you'd probably find he has done something similar in the past, perhaps not to a teacher or official, maybe to a family member of authority.

Great initial push call. Great T. Great call to forfeit.

I would also not the player push me the 2nd time.

I would definitely press charges.

I didn't see discussed anywhere about the rest of the video:

First play: clearly a 1+1 situation. After the release, the official's arm goes up and he closes down. On the make, he goes back to the correct position. On the 2nd attempt, same thing. You can see him flicking his outside wrist for the foul shot clock. Great job.


On the make of the 2nd, he hangs for a bit to make sure that there is no press. He clears out when there is no threat. Great job.

Other end: closes down when the drive goes baseline. The L picks up the foul. Great teamwork. I would try to get this foul as C, though.

2nd set of foul shots: same great mechanics.

All in all, this guy is a top quality official: excellent judgment, excellent mechanics.

Good points, Jug. I noticed the same. Overall looked quite solid.

I did think he made a mistake of approaching the player he called a T on. But he was on his way to the table, and it probably wouldn't have made a difference. :(

Ya - that's a tough one, though I don't think a single person who will defend the player will say "the ref walked toward the player". If they do, they'll have egg on their face when they learn about referee mechanics and what we're commissioned to do.

I believe that the step that C took towards the player was in response to a question by the player, and well before any of the physical contact aspects.

Copy of the police report:

H.S. Ref Gets Slammed | The Smoking Gun

Looks like the Ref is originally from Pittsburgh.

Fox Sports has it now.

Going viral.

The player is an adult (over 18) so this will stay with him pretty much the rest of his life. With an adult police record he'll be very fortunate to get into any college - if he is able to graduate from HS.

Report: High school hoops player attacks ref during game - News | FOX Sports on MSN

High school player attacks ref

At the 23 second mark in the video, you can see that the score is 21-26 Visitors are winning and the fouls are 9 to 10. 2:30 left on the clock. I can't see the quarter, but I would say before 1/2 time.