CAT Tracks for March 18, 2005 IF IT'S BAD NEWS...

...then be sure to mention Cairo! Lest anyone forget...

Playoff game melee is second Illinois skirmish

By Georgina Gustin
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/16/2005

After the basketball playoff game ended between Alton and Carbondale late Tuesday, a group of fans began taunting and throwing water on other spectators. And when the near-capacity crowd of about 4,100 fans spilled into the parking lots at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, several fights broke out.

"Pushing, shoving, swinging matches were breaking out in all directions," SIUE athletics director Brad Hewitt said Wednesday. "It was back and forth the whole game. It ended up being a four-point game, but it was much closer than that the whole time and emotions were running high."

The melee, which left an Alton High School senior recovering at St. Louis University Hospital with stab wounds, was the second violent skirmish at an Illinois high school basketball game in as many days.

Police were continuing to search Wednesday for a Carbondale man believed to have stabbed 17-year-old Tommie Taylor at around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Carbondale, which defeated Alton in the Class AA supersectional contest, 64-60, moves on to a quarterfinal game at noon Friday against Chicago Crane. That game will be played at Carver Arena in Peoria.

On Tuesday night, at least five police officers tried to break up one of the larger fights, which erupted about 400 to 500 yards south of the center's main entrance, but were unable to do so. During the chaos, Taylor was stabbed, sustaining a punctured lung, authorities said.

The suspect, believed to be a former Carbondale High School student, ran into the woods, and police believe he was able to get into a vehicle bound for Carbondale. Buses carrying fans were not checked by police before leaving the campus, authorities said.

SIUE Police Chief Regina Hays said Wednesday that her department is working with Carbondale police to develop leads.

Police and SIUE authorities said Wednesday that six police officers were working the event inside the gym. After the fights broke out, four more SIUE police officers were called to the scene. In addition, there were about 15 high school administrators and SIUE ushers in the crowd, assisting with security, Hewitt said. There are no metal detectors inside the auditorium, Hays said.

Which group of spectators started the taunting and water throwing inside the gym was unclear, authorities said.

Hays explained Wednesday that her officers were hired by the Illinois High School Association, which runs interscholastic sports events in the state and staged Tuesday's game. Hays said her department worked with the SIUE athletic department to determine how many officers to place on duty. A typical ratio she uses is one officer for every 600 spectators.

Both Hays and Hewitt said Wednesday that they do not recall any incidents of this type on the SIUE campus, which has hosted high school sports events since the early 1990s.

The fight came just 24 hours after a violent brawl at a high school basketball game in Chicago, and one year after another violent postgame eruption between Cairo and Massac County high schools in Metropolis, Ill.

On Monday, a brawl broke out during another Class AA supersectional game between Harvey Thornton and Homewood-Flossmoor high schools at the United Center in Chicago. An off-duty police sergeant had a heart attack while trying to break up the fight, and a teenager suffered a head injury.

In February last year, undefeated Cairo High School, ranked No. 1 in the state, lost to Massac County High School, and a brawl broke out after the loss. Five people, including the Cairo head coach, were hospitalized after the fight.

The Illinois High School Association suspended Cairo from postseason play and ruled that the school did not take adequate measures to keep the crowd under control, especially considering the longtime rivalry between the two teams.

Marty Hickman, the association's director, said on Wednesday that the association leaves security measures up to host schools and local police departments, and does not have its own security policies.

"It's virtually impossible to stop every person who wants to do something stupid," Hickman said, "but we're obviously really concerned about it."

Alexa Aguilar of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

Reporter Georgina Gustin E-mail: ggustin@post-dispatch.com