Fines, suspensions doled out after prep basketball fight

Just days before the start of their district tournaments, boys basketball teams from Freedom and Strawberry Crest have been hit with player suspensions and fines as a result of an altercation that occurred in a recent game between the two squads, Florida High School Athletics Association spokesperson Corey Sobers told the Tampa Tribune on Friday.

According to reports filed to the FHSAA by the two schools' administrators, game referees and Hillsborough County athletics director Lanness Robinson, the game was played Jan. 27 at Strawberry Crest and the incident occurred late in the third quarter. As a Freedom and Strawberry Crest player were contesting a rebound, the ball went out of bounds, the report says, and one player tackled the other. That resulted in punches being thrown, players from both teams leaving the bench and even some fans coming out of the stands and on to the floor.

Player names were not released in the report given by the FHSAA, but a video tape review of the incident revealed a player from each squad threw a punch and three players from each school left the bench.

As a result of the review, the FHSAA handed Freedom suspensions for three athletes on its basketball team. One player received a "Level 2" suspension (six weeks) for throwing a punch, which is effectively for the remainder of the season. Three other players were given Level 1 suspensions, or two games.

Freedom itself was fined $250 for having two Level 2 or higher suspensions during the current school year (the other came in football) and $100 for its fourth suspension in boys basketball. Additionally, Freedom's boys basketball program is placed on administrative probation for the remainder of the current school year, as well as the 2012-13 school year, Sobers said.

Two basketball players from Strawberry Crest received six-week suspensions, one of whom earned the ban because it was his second Level 1 this school year. Two Level 1 suspensions in the same year result is an automatic Level 2. Two other Chargers players received two-game bans.

Sobers said Strawberry Crest was fined $250 for having two Level 2 or higher suspensions during the current school year and $100 for its fourth suspension in boys basketball. The Chargers' boys basketball program was also placed on administrative probation for remainder of 2011-12 school year and 2012-13 school year.

District tournaments start next week. Strawberry Crest plays in the Class 6A-11 tourney at Sickles, where first-round action begins Monday. Freedom is in the 7A-9 tourney at Chamberlain, where play starts Tuesday.