California basketball game ends in bench-clearing brawl involving 5-star prospect (video)

Inglewood High, led by 5-star guard Jason Crowe Jr., was involved in a post-game scuffle with Aquinas that involved players, coaches, and fans.

Inglewood and Aquinas boys basketball teams get into a bench-clearing scuffle after a game on Monday, Jan. 27, 2026. / NFHS Network

The boys basketball game between Aquinas High and visiting Inglewood High in San Bernardino Monday night turned ugly after the buzzer sounded. (scroll down for video)

With Inglewood already winning by 13 points with just second left, an Inglewood players scores a meaningless basket (that did not count) as the time expires.

"We probably shouldn't have scored that layup," Inglewood coach Jason Crowe said. "That incited their player."

As an Aquinas player (#13) is heading back to his bench for handshake lines, he crosses paths with Inglewood players that appear to chirp something and prompts the Aquinas player to turn around to confront the Inglewood group.

The Aquinas players pushes an Inglewood player which prompts a bench-clearing melee of sorts between more players, coaches and fans. In the video, the scuffle spills onto the near sideline where fans get involved.

"It was an unfortunate situation, we run a high class program," Aquinas coach Daryl Pegram said. "Emotions ran high. We hope these young can learn from it. It was a great game, it just sucked it ended that way."

Inglewood head coach Jason Crowe wrapped the Aquinas player in what appeared to be an attempt to stop the fight, but an Inglewood player pushes Crowe in the back while he's holding the Aquinas player which exacerbates the situation.

"He pushes," Crowe said of the Aquinas player. "I step in between and wrap him up so he can stop, but we get pushed and neither of us have physical control anymore. We both go down."

It gets uglier.

At the bottom of the video, punches are thrown between players, fans and coaches.

THE GAME'S HOSTILE ENVIORNMENT

Inglewood is led by 5-star Missouri commit Jason Crowe Jr., who is averaging 44 points per game. He finished Monday night's game with 43 points in the Sentinels 91-78 win.

"I think Inglewood thought we were going to lay down," Pegram said. "They thought they were going to impose their will on us and we didn't allow that to happen."

Wherever Crowe Jr. goes, there is a rambunctious crowd. Aquinas' fanbase, filled with excited students, packed the gym to a standing-room only atmosphere.

"I'm not sure Aquinas knew how to prepare for that," Crowe said. "And I want to be clear, I thought the staff and admin were great to us. It's unfortunate what happened at the end of a great game, but the students were nearly on the court the whole game on one baseline. They were too close."

Pegram said he never felt like he needed to worry about the student section.

"Our student section has been great all season. I didn't feel like there would be any reasons to be worried about our fan base not being able to handle the No. 1 point guard in country coming to our gym."

Crowe said that opponents ramping up to play his son is not new to them, but felt like what transpired in the first half made things a little different

"One of the Aquinas assistant coaches was talking [trash] to our players," Crowe said. "So the temperament and tone of the game changed. Up until then it was an exciting atmosphere."

SUSPENSIONS LIKELY TO COME

The CIF Southern Section office will be made aware of the brawl, but usually will delegate to the schools on how they want to serve suspensions. If no action is taken, then it's likely the section will enforce some kind of consequence for players and/or coaches.

The high school basketball season ends Feb. 4. The playoffs begin the following week on Feb. 11.

Due to the game being over, the players clearing the bench and coming onto the court is not a violation. So, a high number of suspensions is unlikely.

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