Winning on the road in a hostile environment is never easy, but as Manvel (Texas) High basketball coach Greg Devers found out over the weekend, winning was the easy part. It was trying to get out of town that proved to be an arduous task, after an angry fan attacked Devers while the team was waiting to depart the gym following a 60-45 win over La Marque.
Details are still sketchy, but as the Houston Chronicle reported, the incident may have something to do with a Manvel player accidentally stepping on a La Marque player during the game.
"There was an incident (during the game) when my 6-7 guy (Traylin Farris) got tangled up with one of their kids and I think he accidentally stepped on the guy," Devers said. "That's when they were trying to get my 6-7 guy — three guys attack him saying, 'We're going to get you cause you stepped on my cousin.'["]
That's when things started to get interesting. With tempers flaring, a Manvel trainer noticed a message on Twitter from La Marque fans, saying they were going to retaliate after the game was over. They certainly did, as three cars pulled up in front of the gym entrance after the game, blocking the Manvel bus from picking up the players.
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As Devers and his team waited -- the La Marque team was already in their locker room by this point -- a fan from La Marque jumped out of the stands and charged the coach, knocking down a mother before landing a punch that left Dever's left eye severely swollen.
"I was trying to hold my player back and help one of the mamas that hits the ground. I have one hand on her and one hand on my player — that's when the guy cold cocked me from the side. I'll be honest, everything was so blurry then because I had about three or four other guys that started hitting me in the back and so forth."
Alvin Independent School District Athletic Director Mike Bass, talking to KTRK-TV in Houston, described the punch as a "left hook from Mike Tyson," and based on the the above video of the shiner, it's hard to disagree with his description.
"As a district, we don't tolerate that from our fans or students," Bass told KTRK-TV. "We are conducting a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it. Once we know all the particulars, we will administer discipline accordingly."
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