Quit Playing So Well!

A California girls' high school basketball game was definitely out of the ordinary this past January. Arroyo Valley High played Bloomington High and it wasn't even close. The score at halftime was 104-1 in favor of Arroyo Valley. Then the head coach of Arroyo Valley, Michael Anderson, took all his starters out and put in reserves for the second half. The reserves went on to score 57-1. The final score? 161-2! Bloomington never scored a basket (the 2 points were free throws)! 

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A California high school committee handed Coach Anderson a two-game suspension for "running up the score intentionally." But he didn't. Anderson said that he wasn't trying to run up the score, and that he pulled his starters out of the game at the half. He said, "I didn't expect them to be that bad... I'm not trying to embarrass anybody."
Coach Anderson's players were the ones scoring the points, not him! What was he going to say to his team... Quit playing so well? Or: Play worse? How about: Score some points for the other team! Give me a break. Instead of penalizing Coach Anderson, the committee should have penalized the other coach! I know what the penalty should have been... "You're fired!!"
What about boys' high school basketball? You might think these lopsided scores are reserved for girls' teams. Think again. On January 29, 1964, two Louisiana high schools met to play boys' basketball. The score? Grand Avenue High defeated Audrey Memorial High 211-29! Ouch!

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