Menlo-Atherton boys' basketball team loses home-court advantage in Central Coast Section finals

But after a postgame incident in Tuesday’s quarterfinals at M-A, when M-A fans rushed the court at the final buzzer of the Bears’ 57-55 win over Los Altos, a punishment was meted out to strip M-A of any home games for the remainder of the tourney.

“M-A kid hits the game-winning shot and the student section from M-A fills the floor,” CCS Commissioner Dave Grissom said. “In my opinion, it was egregious, to the point where one of the officials shields a Los Altos player. And that just can’t happen.”

Thursday’s semifinal game at No. 2 Mountain View, the higher seed, would have been a road game for M-A. The only game the disciplinary action will affect is Saturday’s championship final.

“If this is about rowdy fans, then you take the fans out of it,” Molieri said.

But according to CCS bylaws, the punishment fits the crime to the letter. Rule 6 of the CCS sportsmanship policy states: “At any CCS playoff event, charging the ‘field of play’ by spectators, or other unauthorized persons, during or after the contest is an unacceptable behavior and will not be tolerated.”

Among the nine sanctions available to CCS is No. 4: “Loss of home field advantage for that sport.”

The rule prohibiting fans from running onto the court has been in place since prior to the COVID pandemic, though it has been a hot-button topic since returning to play in the spring of 2021.

“It’s been an issue in our section for a while,” Grissom said. “I sent an email to all member schools in January about my concerns about fans storming the courts and how we have to curb it.”

The M-A student body has a long tradition of organized fandom for basketball games. Dubbed “The Sixth Man,” the group generally has a section reserved for home games. Tuesday’s CCS quarterfinal was just the second game the Sixth Man was allowed to attend, with COVID protocols prohibiting students from attending en masse prior to the final week of the regular season.

The Sixth Man will be allowed to attend Saturday’s championship game in Salinas.

“Yes, they’re still allowed there,” Molieri said.

Molieri was notified Wednesday of the sanctions. His initial reaction was a reluctance to tell his team until after Thursday’s semifinal, he said. But word ultimately spread among the team Wednesday.

“Were the kids really upset? You bet, they’re really upset,” Molieri said. “But we see it as a team challenge, and we need to move on.”

But is M-A being picked on?

Molieri made the point students mixing it up on the court following games is a common occurrence.

“My biggest concern is you’re not being consistent,” Molieri said. “That’s the biggest thing to me.”

Tuesday’s high-profile game was webcast on the NFHS Network, with the postgame incident getting attention on social media. This made it hard to ignore, Grissom said.

“In this case, it played into it quite a bit,” Grissom said. “To have video evidence of what happened, helped make a decision. There have been some situations earlier this year that led to my email (to member schools).”

The penalty could have been much worse for M-A. Among the other sanctions available to CCS are loss of home field advantage for all sports, for the team in question being prohibited from participating in the CCS playoffs, or for all sports teams from the school not being allowed to participate in CCS playoffs.

“There could be further sanctions that I chose not to go down,” Grissom said.

Saturday will mark M-A’s sixth all-time appearance in the CCS finals. The Bears have won two CCS titles for boys’ basketball, in 1987-88, and ’88-89. They last advanced to the finals in 2013-14, falling to Bellarmine 43-41.