Ref blamed for inciting basketball brawl

The coach of a youth basketball team from Chicago says it’s the referee’s fault that a fight broke out at a tournament in Georgia against a team from Houston.

“The player was walking back toward the bench, the referee pushed the player, and they squared up,” coach Howard Martin tells an Atlanta TV station.

That led to this:

“I’m not condoning anything that happened, anything my players did,” Martin said. “But at the end of the day, as a man, you’ve got to be a little bit wiser.”

The Chicago team was tossed from the tournament. The Houston team went to the championship game and lost by two points.

(h/t: Paul Tosto)