Watch: 'The dirtiest play of the year' in HS basketball
Fouls are a part of basketball, but every once in a while you’ll see a player commit a foul that makes everyone who saw the play throw up their arms and scream, “What were you thinking?”
Such a play took place Friday at the Class 1A-Division 1 state high school basketball tournament in Hays, Kansas.
And some are calling it the dirtiest play of the year.
In the third quarter of Friday’s state semi-final game, Thomas Atkins of Hanover was on his way to what appeared to be a breakaway dunk.
Just after Atkins went airborne, however, a trailing defender from Centralia placed two hands in the small of Atkins’ back and pushed him, causing Atkins to crash hard into the basket support and land on the floor.
Better look of the dirty push at the 1A State Tournament. Dirtiest Play of the Year? #DidntGetEjected #DemoteTheRefs @KSHSAA @sportsinkansas @KingJames @StephenCurry30 @NBA @SportsCenter @FBI pic.twitter.com/aaDfKJtpJx
— Dacey (@daceyjh) March 10, 2018
The official closest to the play immediately signaled for an intentional foul on the play, but some fans were outraged that the Centralia player was not ejected for his actions.
At least one other fan was livid with the Centralia coach for letting the player who committed the foul remain in the game.
Some fans assumed the official had signaled a flagrant foul — which in high school basketball comes with an automatic ejection.
But there is no signal for a flagrant foul in high school basketball. Officials call an intentional foul, then determine if a foul rises to the level of flagrant. That would be announced to the scoring table and the crowd via a public address announcer.
Some media reports from the game suggested a flagrant foul had been called, but the box score shows no ejections.
While the foul resulted in a violent fall, determining whether the contact itself was violent is usually the criteria for determining if a foul is elevated to flagrant status.
No matter the call, Atkins’ fall had everyone in the gym concerned. He was shaken up on the play and left the game for a brief time, but eventually returned.
Hanover won the game in overtime, 74-73, earning them a bid in Saturday’s state championship game.
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