Kentucky High School Forfeits Game After Referee Ejects the Entire Bench

One Kentucky High School basketball game went off the rails on Monday night. KSR’s Ryan Lemond had a front-row seat for the unusual event in Mount Sterling.

Montgomery County led 46-23 with a minute left until halftime when Powell County Pirates picked up their belongings and walked off the court. Powell County chose to forfeit, rather than continue to play the basketball game. They had a pretty good reason.

In the second quarter, there was an altercation between the two teams after a hard screen. A few players left the Powell County bench. It looked like one might have been hit with a punch. Following the brief skirmish, officials elected to eject the entire bench for Powell County, leaving the Pirates with only five players for the rest of the game.

Ejecting an entire bench seems silly, but Powell County played on. Naturally, tensions were pretty high following the technical fouls. Montgomery County continued to full-court press the five remaining players when tempers flared once more. Powell County was assessed another technical foul. At that point, the head coach had seen enough.

Earlier in the second quarter after an altercation between players, Powell County’s entire bench except for one player was ejected for leaving the bench and coming on to the playing floor. pic.twitter.com/gNmfJmWubm

— 10th Region (@tenthregion) January 28, 2025

Ryan Lemond shared on Kentucky Sports Radio that the officials were unsure what to do next. They had to check a rule book before awarding Montgomery County with the win. As of Tuesday morning, the game has not been listed as final on the KHSAA scoreboard. The coach should face a suspension by removing his team from the game without the officials’ approval.

Sports are supposed to be fun. Sometimes, they get contentious. Handing out technicals like their pamphlets and ejecting players doesn’t seem like the best solution to that problem. It’s a shame the game wasn’t finished.

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