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12:17 pm - Jeez
Deer Lakes School District Superintendent Mark King said it sounded like a melon hitting the floor when a Hampton parent came out of the stands at a Friday basketball game and body slammed a referee, causing him to hit his back and head on the hardwood.
Peter Dukovich, 47, of Elgro Road, Hampton, was charged with simple assault and assault on a sports official. Dukovich is accused of attacking referee Ronald Bell, 57, of Scottdale during a Deer Lakes/Hampton boys varsity basketball game at Deer Lakes High School.
Dukovich's wife, Raelynn Dukovich, 43, was charged with disorderly conduct for her alleged involvement in the incident.
The game was played at 4 p.m. and was only open to parents and grandparents because a fight erupted between fans after a basketball game last year at Hampton High School.
Earlier this year a game that was only open to parents and grandparents was played at Hampton High School without incident.
Friday's incident at Deer Lakes caused the game to be suspended.
West Deer Police Chief Jon Lape said there was a shoving match between a Deer Lakes player and a Hampton player on the court and the game was halted near the end of the third quarter to try to resolve the situation.
Lape said Raelynn Dukovich became irate and was yelling obscenities at the officials. Lape didn't say if the Hampton player involved was Dukovich's son.
The chief said that when Raelynn Dukovich was asked to calm down she became belligerent toward police and King. Police decided to escort her out of the gym, Lape said.
King said that's when about 15 to 20 parents from both sides came out of the stands. Most listened to police and went back to their seats, but Peter Dukovich attacked Bell.
"He picked the official up, slammed him to the floor, hitting his back first and then his head. We called an ambulance right away," King said. "It was scary, I thought he was going to be seriously hurt."
"He was very incoherent. He tried to get up and he fell right back down again," King said.
Bell, who sustained a concussion in the incident, was taken to a hospital Friday and released that night, King said.
The superintendent said Dukovich probably is about 6 feet 2 inches tall, while Bell probably is about 5 feet 8 inches and weighs 170 pounds. King said he's not sure why Dukovich decided to go after Bell.
"I really felt terrible. He came clear from Scottdale and got hurt," King said.
When reached Monday at his home, Peter Dukovich said there's another side to the story, but he didn't want to make a statement at this time.
Bell could not be reached for comment.
The players witnessed the incident, but were sent to the locker room shortly after it happened. King said he's embarrassed that people who are supposed to be role models would become involved in such an incident.
Police decided to escort the Hampton fans out of the gym and Hampton's athletic director, who was at the game, decided not to continue the contest, King said.
"As Hampton fans were exiting they were taunting the Deer Lakes fans," King said.
Additional police from West Deer, three police officers from Indiana Township and three police officers from Richland responded to the scene. There were no additional incidents or arrests after the game.
Both schools have tapes of the game, but King said the Deer Lakes tape cuts off after the altercation between players, and doesn't show the attack on Bell.
King and Hampton Superintendent Lawrence Korchnack said the tapes will be reviewed to see if any disciplinary action will be taken against any of the players.
"It has not been brought to my attention that the tape indicates that there should be any student discipline," said Korchnack, who wasn't at the game.
Korchnack said it's always a shame when violence occurs.
"You don't want violence to be the first reaction," he said.
King said school officials were being proactive and provided adequate security for the game. The superintendent said there were two West Deer police officers, one school security guard, two principals and two athletic directors in attendance.
During a regular game attended by 300 to 400 people, there usually are four or five police officers on duty, King said.
That policy was put into place after an incident that took place during a Deer Lakes/Valley basketball game in 2001. At that game, a Valley player got into a fight with a fan who was not a student at the school. The Valley player's father punched the fan. The fan and the Valley player's father were charged with disorderly conduct.
King and Korchnack said they don't know what WPIAL officials will rule or what actions will be taken if the two schools play in the same section next year.
"Next year our recommendation will be no spectators at all if we stay in the same section," King said.
"We need to rectify the situation and make some provisions so something like this doesn't occur again," Korchnack said.
Both men said they will listen to WPIAL recommendations.
Korchnack said if either team had made the playoffs the incident might have had a bigger impact. Friday's game was the last game of the year for both teams.
WPIAL Executive Director Larry Hanley didn't return a phone call for comment.
Duane Newton, the PIAA representative for the WPIAL, said he wasn't at the game but is aware of the incident. He said there have been situations where schools have played games with no fans allowed to attend.
He said in basketball, more than football, fans are closer to the action. He said most officials don't seem to be worried about such an assault.
"We give PIAA camps three times a year and nobody comments on that," Newton said.
Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County District Attorney's office, said the charge of assault on a sports official is rare. It carries a maximum penalty of a five-year jail term or a $10,000 fine, or both.
Dukovich was released from the county jail on his own recognizance. He faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 25 before District Justice Suzanne Blaschak in West Deer.
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12:19 pm - Nostradomus
Yes thats right. Go ahead and call me Ron Cook. The diffrence is I had the stones to gurentee a Pitt loss against the Hall. If you took it to your bookies like I said, good move. If you did not you should have listened to me. Pitt lost last night by 1 after a double overtime game against the Hall. Antonio Graves took the last shot once again and missed. As i had also said before when Krauser scores 20+ Pitt losses. He had only 4 rebounds and 3 assists and fouled out on a questionable foul in the second overtime. This was the second game that Jaron had to play with four fouls for an extended period of time. Krauser and Brown combined for 13 of Pitts 24 tournovers. This was a very dissapointing effort from Pitt and things do not get easier as they host UCONN on SAT. They still are atop the Big East thanks to a UCONN loss at Norte Dame. The good news is Pitt shot 46% despite 1-6 shooting from Page who has recently admitted that his ankle has been affecting his play.
In unrelated stories, Larry endorsed Tyler Palko as the next great Pitt player during his NFL announcement. Mike Tyson admitted he has only 5,000 dollars in his bankaccount after earning over 200 million during his carrer. He earned 6 dollars during the month of September. Willie Williams the Miami linebacker turned himself in after a warrent was issued for his arrest in Dade County. Peter Gamons recently said that the Pirates had the worst offseason of any major league club.
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04:07 pm - Disturbing
This morning I did not have much time so I wrote something real quick and looked for an interesting article. I saw ref assulted and threw it up. Since it got a comment allready I read the article. Seriously, I almost got sick. I could not believe that someone would do that to someone else. I mean here is a guy who I am guessing is a former player who for the love of the game is trying to do a service for these people and he ends up in the god damn hospital. I think we have all yelled at a ref before but for a non participant to assult someone doing a public service is ridiculous. Jack was 56, one year younger then this guy, and if someone picked him up and bodyslammed him he would have been seriously injured. Christ when you get old falling down the stairs can kill you. I cannot even describe how sick and unfeeling the human race is. I just hope that guy was alright and continues calling high school games. Just really sick stuff.
Kinger- You know my bottom line with the Pitt game is, its okay to struggle and not play well. Your going to have games like that but good teams find ways to win when there having a bad game. The foul call on Krauser was a joke but he has got to give Barret room if he has 4 fouls. Pitt may have just blown their shot at a number 1 seed as Mississippi State and Gonzaga are moving on up. I am not sure about Dukovich but I remember his kids being assholes too. I think the senior Dukovich was a little older though.
Damn the man, save the empire. Continue the struggle for all us educated sports fans against the many ignorent ones. There is not many of us so making your voice heard to 30 idiots went along way to perserving the cause. Incidently, the D III nationals are in Arizona this year. Drake's St. Vince squad looks like a lock to get in. Your team however, is no where to be found among the rankings. Get your ass in gear so we can party in the valley.
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04:27 pm - Jerseys
Interesting debate going on in a diffrent site. Lets see what you boys think. TJ Ford just had his number retired at Texas. He is two years removed from school. Is it to soon to retire Larry's number 1?? If it is when would be more appropriate??
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04:36 pm - Sorry Adam
Man. what happened to Paul Spadafora. This guy was on the rise at one point. Smellermen and Kenny could not stop gushing over the guy. It seems to me he has not fought for at least a year. No wonder nobody wanted to give Dimichele a scholarship. Spadafora is not exactlly doing a great job of representing the downtrowden Mckees Rocks community.
A judge this morning fined boxer Paul Spadafora $400 for urinating on Liberty Avenue during a boozy binge last year.
Judge Kevin Cooper found Spadafora guilty of public intoxication and disorderly conduct for the incident in October. A charge of open lewdness was lowered to a summary offense of disorderly conduct. The bad-boy boxer also has to complete 100 hours of community service.
The judge imposed the maximum fine for each charge - $200 - after defense attorney William Difenderfer unsuccessfully argued in City Court for a lower fine.
"It's because Spadafora is who is he is, he is responsible to conduct himself in a certain way," Cooper said.
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06:27 pm - Thats what Im taking about
All right, I am getting blasted here and loving it. Thats what I like to see. So here we go now.
I completly forgot that Paul took a shot at his girlfriend so thumbs up for pointing that out. Talk about wasted potential that guy was moving up in the rankings and had a belt which could have made an attractive matchup for a big name. The gloves around his neck were ridiculous. Robey had a tattoo???
Mystery Man- For the record I hate all Sun Devil sports with the exception of the baseball team. I especially hate Ike Diogu as he is one of the main reasons that ASU sucks this year. I agree Pitt is on the VERGE of being a great team. But if your on the VERGE of that, that makes you a good team. I read the selection commitee article as well and I can assure you that if Gonzaga wins out they will be a 1 seed. The fact is, Gonzaga has become americas sweat heart team. After the upsets they have pulled off everybody in america roots for them. They have played in some classics like the game last year against Arizona. There two losses have come against the only two undeafeted teams in the country. They will be strongly considered at the end of the year, you watch and see. Kentucky plays two ranked opponents in their last two weeks. There is no way they will emerge from both of those games intact, let alone the drive through the SEC tourny. Miss. State had them beat if it was not for a fluke tip. That team is on fire and will not lose for the rest of the regular season if they get by the gamecocks tomarrow. I think they can beat Kentucky but we will see. When you stack the losses up here, the Hall loss really hurts Pitt. Your talking about two teams that lost to the cream of the crop and one thats carrying around a loss to a second tier team. I think you miss read the column as the guy said that if they won out they would have to be considered but worst case scenario, a loss in the WCC tournament would drop them to four. I could not find the article to confirm this though. I was forced to listen to the game on the Seton Hall radio network and the commentater kept saying how tired Barret was. How the guy could not even hold his head up. So ya let the guy drive and try to make a leaning jumper in the lane. He was 2-7 in both overtimes and had considerably cooled off. He had missed two similar shots in both OTs. I would have rather had Krauser on the floor shooting to tie then Graves shooting to win would'nt you. Or at least let someone else take the foul. Mark was right there, get out of the way and let someone else make a good play to block the shot or take the foul.
Kinger- Shit in the bed. I perfer "what the hell are you doing here paul?? what happened you shit the bed." Or maybe, sometimes you eat the bar, sometimes the bar eats you. Similar but anytime I can work in a Big Lebowski refrence I try my best. As far as the celebration goes, I have said it before and will say it again Pat King is all about the face time. I tried for two years to get a god damn comment in the Valley News and Kinger would not tell the guy to call me. He would not share the press with me. Oh well, what are you going to do when you play with a guy like that. Kinger do not even try to refute this, "Rome wasnt built in a day, but it appearently could have been with me and Pappy here." I bet you told that to some guy at the PPG while hording column space from those poor Nucks. I feel bad for them, poor humble Nucks confronted by two playboys like you and Papciak. Interesting comment about Graves. Everybody says the guy has great rotation and can really shoot the ball. He does not get many oppurtunities to shoot which could contribute to his misses in games. But it always seems like the ball takes a left hand turn right out of his hand. Torey give us some info here on proper shooting form and wheather Graves has it or not.
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07:36 pm - Oh
and everywhere i checked the line was even. in fact, i did a little investigative work and went to the local reservation. the indians had the line at even so the game would have payed.
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