Nine players from the Bloomfield boys basketball team are sitting out Monday night’s varsity game at East Hartford due to a fight that took place Friday’s home game against New Britain.
According to Stan Simpson, a spokesman for Bloomfield Public Schools, Bloomfield will be without nine players for the game, all ejected following the fight that occurred late in the first half. Many of those players came off the bench during the fight.
An ejection warrants a one-game suspension, per CIAC rules. “When an athlete is ejected from any CIAC contest the athlete is ineligible to participate in the next contest at the same level of play,” the CIAC handbook reads.
Simpson said eight players are available for Monday night’s game and five will come from the JV roster. According to the CIAC schedule, both the JV and freshman games at East Hartford Monday have been canceled.
Ed Lynch, the IAABO Board 6 commissioner that serves both schools and the Greater Hartford area in terms of officiating, told Hearst Connecticut Media on Saturday there were 17 players ejected: three players who were in the game at the time of the fight and an additional 14 players combined from both teams who left the bench.
CIAC spokesman John Holt said on Monday there were 18 disqualifications, nine from each school. He noted that the CIAC spoke with both schools on Monday, but all of Friday's ejections were upheld.
The ejections led to both Bloomfield and New Britain finishing with just four players each to complete Friday’s game. According to WFSB-3, which had an employee at the game, Bloomfield ended up finishing the game with just three players (due to a player fouling out).
Bloomfield, the No. 9 team in the GameTimeCT boys basketball top 10 poll, won the game 71-62. Bloomfield and New Britain are scheduled to play again on Feb. 17.
Nine players will be unavailable for New Britain on Tuesday at RHAM. Currently, all three levels of games are still on as scheduled for Tuesday.
New Britain superintendent Tony Gasper did not return a request for comment from Saturday. Neither Gasper nor New Britain principal Damon Pearce immediately returned an email request for comment on Monday regarding the incident or how many players will be available for Tuesday’s game.
joseph.morelli@hearstmediact.com; @nhrJoeMorelli
