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Sports

Basket-brawl: Suspensions Loom as Fallston Advances to Region Final

Police say no charges have been filed as of Thursday afternoon.

UPDATE (3:36 p.m.)—Head coach Mark Hannahs said he was “choked” by an Elkton fan during the bench-clearing brawl at Wednesday’s basketball game in which dozens of fans stormed the court before sheriff’s deputies restored order.

The Cougars head coach said a hard foul by one of Elkton’s players led to half  the visiting team’s 50 fans “spilling” onto the court with 28.6 seconds remaining. The game was suspended last night, but has since been ruled final, 73–53, in Fallston’s favor.

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“Our big kid went in to try to dunk,” Hannahs said. “They had a kid just tomahawk him, just flagrant. He basically threw the kid on the ground.”

Hannahs said the two players shoved each other and then Elkton fans stormed the court. The Fallston coach said none of his players left the bench, while Elkton’s entire team joined the fight.

“I told [my players] if they get up I’ll kill them. I guess they were more scared of me than getting in the fight,” Hannahs said. “Our fans stayed in the stands.”

Elkton head coach Steve Wright told Patch the school’s administration asked him not to speak about the matter.

“I have no comment while they complete the investigation,” he said.

According to a police report from the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, there were “approximately 50 to 60 people on the court, with approximately eight to 10 smaller fights occurring.” The report also states that “punches were being thrown by [members] of both teams.”

Only one fight, between a 17-year-old Elkton student and a 48-year-old Bel Air resident, is documented in the report. Police said the Elkton boy was handcuffed after allegedly punching the Bel Air man, but the man was then let go and told to leave the school as police dealt with other fights in the gymnasium.

A spokeswoman for the sheriff's office said 19 deputies responded to the scene.

"As [a Harford County sheriff’s deputy] stopped [the players'] fight, he saw the crowds of people coming down from the stands ... and he called for backup," Monica Worrell said.

Worrell added that no charges have been filed.

Hannahs said he walked to the scorer’s table to protect his three female managers when he was choked by a 17-year-old Elkton fan.

“I didn’t get hurt, I just couldn’t breathe for like five seconds,” he said.

Stosh Schtierman, the Boys MPSSAA 2A East Chair, confirmed the game is now final, but was not sure of any suspensions.

The Harford County high schools athletics supervisor, Ken Zorbach, said there will be disciplinary action against both teams, though no specific punishments have been issued.

“Anything we do with punishing students, that’s personal record. We can’t give that out,” Zorbach said. “We’re trying to get some film of the game. We know some of the things but I think there’s more involved with it.”

Hannahs said the refs told him two of his players, Ryan Bonhoff and Zimmie Nwaigwe, were ejected from the game. He added that “literally everybody on Elkton’s team got a double technical,” but that he will not hold it against the Golden Elks’s head coach.

“Their coach was very apologetic; he blamed everything on them. He told the refs the game should be over,” Hannahs said. “He’s a gentleman.”

Wright said he has a good relationship with Hannahs.

“He’s a really good guy. We’ve always had good conversations,” Wright said.

The Elkton coach said he gave Hannahs video of Easton’s recent matchup with Wicomico so Fallston can scout its regional championship opponent. Hannahs said he was grateful for the film while Wright said he would like Fallston to represent Cecil and Harford counties in the state semifinals.

“It’s all about building each other up man,” Wright said.

The Fallston coach said other Elkton fans spoke with him as well.

“The bus driver came up to me and apologized and said, 'I shouldn’t take any of them home,'” Hannahs said. “A couple of parents apologized to me.”

Fallston is scheduled to travel to Easton at 6 p.m. Friday for the 2A East regional final.

“We won the basketball game [Wednesday] but we lost the fight,” Hannahs said. “I’d rather win a basketball game to be honest with you.”

CORRECTION: The most recent police report indicates that the Elkton boy was handcuffed in the altercation, not the Bel Air man.

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