Eight Monticello boys hoops players serve suspensions

Eight Monticello High School boys basketball players served a one-game suspension Thursday night, missing a last-minute regular-season game against George Wythe High School in Richmond.

The players were suspended for leaving the bench Tuesday night during a game against Charlottesville High School.

The game, which was originally scheduled as the final regular-season game for both teams, was a double forfeit and will not be made up.

Not having Thursday’s game, Albemarle County Schools Spokesman Phil Giaramita said, would have left Monticello with a 20-game regular season. Most high schools in Virginia play 22, which is the maximum allowed by the Virginia High School League.

“The … consideration was, because right now they only have 20 games, they’re at a little bit of a disadvantage in terms of the seeding because of their win percentage,” he said Thursday.

The game played against George Wythe Thursday night was originally supposed to be a make-up game against Fauquier High School, after a scheduled Jan. 21 game with Fauquier was cancelled because of bad weather. Fauquier backed out of the game Wednesday, after the Falcons found out their playoffs would begin Saturday.

Fauquier High School Athletic Director Allen Creasy said he and Monticello High Athletic Director Fitzgerald Barnes tried several times to reschedule the contest without success.

“We had discussed it two or three times. We had tried for Saturdays, but it never worked out, there was always a conflict,” Creasy said. “One time was because my coach was involved in the Special Olympics, and one time because we had already played three games that week and didn’t want to play four.”

Virginia High School League Deputy Director Tom Zimorski said basketball scheduling is up to the schools. As long as regular-season games are scheduled before the district tournament starts, he said, they’re fine.

“Individual schools make up their own regular-season schedules. The only sport that they have to submit [a schedule] in is football,” Zimorski said. “So, if a school were to schedule a make-up game, they could do that as long as they did it by the district deadline.”

Barnes rejected the characterization of the incident involving Monticello and Charlottesville High School as a fight. To Barnes, a fight implies a physical confrontation, which, he said, didn’t happen.

“There was not a fight, and if you can show me footage of a fight, I will take you down to Downtown Grille,” Barnes said Thursday. “There was not a punch thrown. It’s so unfortunate the way this thing has blown up.”

Barnes said the game was cancelled after parents from both sides left the bleachers after an “aggressive foul” by a CHS player. The game was halted with 3:02 left in the third quarter with Charlottesville up, 36-29.

“If the parents had stayed in the stands, we probably could have finished the game,” Barnes said.

The game carried no weight for either team’s seed in the upcoming Jefferson District tournament. That also contributed to its cancellation, Giaramita said.

According to Barnes, the Virginia High School League has reviewed footage of the game, and agreed that there was no physical confrontation. The suspension, Barnes said, was a voluntary measure by MHS.

“When my kids left the bench, they were all walking about 1.2 miles per hour, they did not leave the bench like they were going to do anything,” he said. “We voluntarily imposed the one-game suspension for those kids that left the bench.”

Barnes said suspensions for unsportsmanlike conduct are normal when players leave the bench during an incident like the one Tuesday night.

The suspended players will be eligible to play in Monticello’s playoff game against the winner of tonight’s game between Western Albemarle High and Powhatan High next Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Charlottesville City Schools Spokeswoman Cass Cannon said the VHSL did not impose any suspensions for the Black Knights, whose playoffs begin tonight.

“[The coaches] visited with officials from VHSL, and there were not any league-imposed ejections,” Cannon said. “Monticello volunteered a one-game suspension for the players that left the bench. CHS players stayed on the bench, so there is no suspension for those players.”