CAIRO – The battle for first place in Region 1-4A Friday night between Westover and Cairo was overshadowed by an ugly brawl following the game.
The Syrupmakers’ 77-74 overtime victory in Cairo should have been the story of the night, as Cairo improved to 5-1 in region play heading into Saturday’s game at Shaw. But the finish was marred after a fight broke out as the teams were following through with the post-game handshake.
Video circulated on social media shows numerous spectators on the floor, as officials tried to separate the players and fan bases. The incident was resolved after a couple of minutes, according to Cairo athletic director Sam Holland.
“I’ve got to commend the Grady County resource officers. They did a tremendous job of de-escalating things in a very short period of time,” Holland said. “I am very thankful for our resource officers, how they handled a situation that could have gotten worse.”
Holland would not comment further about the incident until he had an opportunity to review video from the game. He did say the game lived up to the billing between the top two teams in the region standings.
“It was an amazing basketball game. From a fan’s standpoint, it was just two really good basketball teams back and forth the whole night. It was just a high level, both teams talented type of game,” Holland said.