PIAA Playoffs Marred by Fan Ejections and Brawl, Leading to Game Suspensions

Pennsylvania High School Basketball Playoffs See Spectator Ejections in Farrell and a Brawl in Meadville-Uniontown Game, PIAA Yet to Announce Rulings

SBLive

The first round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) basketball playoffs suffered a few incidents of bad behavior from those in attendance. During a first-round Class A girls basketball playoff game Saturday between the fifth place team from District 7 St. Joseph and District 10 champion Farrell at Farrell, the game referees chose to empty the gym in the fourth quarter due to excessive language and yelling from spectators.

The Steelerettes ultimately won the game 56-53. The game played in an empty gym for the final 4 minutes, 31 seconds. There was a 10-minute break in action before the game was resumed in front of necessary personnel.

The game was hotly contested throughout and Farrell had a player ejected from the game following an unrelated circumstance.

Steelerettes forward Ja'Niya Daniels, who is the team's leading rebounder and scorer, received two technical fouls and left the game in the third quarter.

The incident at Farrell came a day after a big brawl forced an end to the Class 5A game between Uniontown and Meadville boys. The Bulldogs were winning the game by eight points when the game was stopped.

PIAA Executive Director Bob Lombardi released a statement on Saturday saying that the organization hadn't made a decision on the punishment from the Meadville-Uniontown fight. The PIAA wasn't planning to rule on the melee until reports were turned in Monday morning.

The PIAA hasn't updated the Class 5A boys bracket yet and doesn't have an opponent listed for Hershey, who was due to play the winner of Meadville and Uniontown. The PIAA has a rule that any player who leaves the bench area for a fight earns an automatic one-game suspension.

--Josh Rizzo |rizzo42789@gmail.com | @J_oshrizzo