Basket Brawl at Hazel Park.

Written Friday February 10th at 10:40 PM
Updated to Include the Detroit Free Press Story on Wednesday February 15th at 4:10 PM

There was a basketball game that took place on Thursday night that turned into a brawl at Hazel Park.

The referees ended up calling the North Farmington/Hazel Park crossover game with 1:13 left in the contest with the Raiders leading and eventually winning over the Vikings 75-58.

According to WXYZ, the incident started when a Hazel Park female student tossed a plastic bottle of tea onto the court, which caused the game to be suspended.

Tension started to get onto the court between the officials and Hazel Park parents with heated words exchanged. According to the Vikings surveillance tape, it showed that the parent (a man) got into the face of the officials but one of the officials pushed him. The parent looked shocked and stunned after the official pushed him. After the pushing incident, the Hazel Park parents and students emptied the stands onto the court as the officials ran to the locker room with the parents, students, and players going after the officials.

Police was called to the scene.

The North Farmington players, coaches, and officials had to be given a police escort out of the Hazel Park gym.

The game was poorly officiated according to Hazel Park's side of things. "This is the first time it is ever gotten that bad. Officiating was poor in my opinion. I have never seen a game officiated like that. It was lopsided all night. By far the worst I've ever seen" said Vikings coach Brendan Barrett to MIPrepZone's Jason Schmidt.

Hazel Park was up 7-2 early in the game but they fell behind by seven points at 19-12 and with nine team fouls called against them. The Vikings trailed by nine 36-27 at the half.

According to the Detroit Free Press's Perry Farrell, during the game, the Hazel Park announcer made inflammatory comments against North Farmington players, coaches, and the officials. He encouraged fans to help them control the situation saying it was eight on five, meaning the five Raiders players and the three officials along with making the atmosphere hostile toward the North Farmington players and officials. He has since been fired from announcing games.

Hazel Park only has ten players on the team.

The Vikings got the game within one point at 37-36 but the Raiders went on a run to get their lead back to nine. Late in the third quarter the officials gave the Hazel Park bench a technical and then Vikings Athletic Director Dr. David Muylaert was given a technical and was ejected from the gym.

According to Farrell, the officials stopped the game to have Muylaert tell the announcer that he could no longer announce the game but Muylaert walked to the court screaming at the officials, which led to his ejection.

Muylaert was ejected from a previous game last season against Bloomfield Hills.

North Farmington would then put the game out of reach outscoring Hazel Park 25-14 in the final quarter.

Barrett added to MIPrepZone about his bitterness with the officiating but gave credit to his team for fighting back "We tried to fight back but when you're at a disadvantage playing eight on five the whole night then it's hard to comeback from."

Hazel Park Superintendent Dr. Amy Kruppe said to WXYZ that the situation involving the incident was a personal matter. Muylaert sat out the Vikings game at Avondale on Tuesday to in which Hazel Park won 66-62 over the Yellow Jackets.

Kruppe said what she saw on the surveillance video to MIPrepZone was that it was the official, not the parent was the aggressor. "From the video I can see the whole thing, the video shows an adult and a referee having words and that official pushing the adult. It had nothing to do with our Hazel Park students. The MHSAA (Michigan High School Athletic Association) official put his hands on someone first. He shoved the parent first and the parent stepped away. The MHSAA official was the aggressor." Kruppe talked to Muylaert via phone after he was ejected from the game explaining his frustration with the officiating of the game.

Kruppe said that the female student who threw the cup onto the court was disciplined. "One of our students threw a bottle and has been disciplined, that was inappropriate. Our AD (Athletic Director) made a comment to the referee, which was inappropriate. There were three adults that made some decisions in retrospect, wish they did not. The MHSAA has to make a decision what to do with the official" Kruppe said to the Detroit Free Press.

The MHSAA got the officials report and will be contacting those who where involved in the incident according to WXYZ. According to the Detroit Free Press, the MHSAA was still investigating the incident and no disciplinary action was given as of yet.

North Farmington coach Todd Negoshian, who's team was in the Class A State Finals last season was disappointed and hopes to never see what happened again as he talked to MIPrepZone "It's sad to see in our society you have a great game like that and fans have to ruin it. It's unfortunate for the kids and hopefully it's a lesson for the kids of what you don't want to be when you grow older."

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest updates on this developing story.

Here is the WXYZ story of the Brawl.

http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/oakland-county/hazel-park-and-north-farmington-basketball-game-descends-into-basket-brawl

Game recap from MIPrepZone.

http://www.miprepzone.com/oakland/results.asp?ID=20604

Hazel Park Superintendent Response.

http://www.miprepzone.com/oakland/results.asp?ID=20610

The Detroit Free Press Story about Hazel Park's Announcer Fired.

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/high-school/2017/02/15/hazel-park-david-muylaert-basketball-brawl/97941632/