East coach offers perspective about Tuesday's altercation
In Thursday's article about the boys' basketball game between Woods Cross and East that ended in an ugly fight, I wrote that I couldn't get a hold of East coach Skip Lowe for comments. The article also stated that Woods Cross' Patrick Day was suspended for one game for his involvement, and East's Jeff Vargas will sit out three games -- two for getting off from the East bench and running onto the court and another because it was his second ejection of the season.
A third individual -- an ineligible player from the East bench -- was also involved in the melee.
Lowe was unavailable for comment because he and his Leopards were playing a game against Copper Hills Wednesday night. By the time he got back home -- which was around 11 p.m. -- it was past my deadline. But because I got comments from Woods Cross officials -- including coach Todd Street -- I think it's only fair to hear what happened from someone from East High.
First of all, Lowe said the ineligible player who ran onto the court and punched Day -- who was later carried out of the Woods Cross High basketball court on a stretcher Tuesday night -- is not a thug, as some message boards, for example, have suggested.
"The player in question made a poor decision," Lowe said. "He's a great kid. He's done a lot of good things. Very good, very positive things. He's made some real improvements with his life."
Lowe also said he wasn't trying to justify what happened Tuesday night, adding that he sat down and talked with Vargas about his actions.
"What he did was wrong," Lowe continued. "We talked about using it as a lesson. We gotta make better decisions. We gotta make the best decisions for ourselves, our teammates and everybody involved."
Lowe said that after Vargas carries out his suspension, the coach and his staff will consider additional punishment. Lowe also said he had long talks with Street, the East and Woods Cross administration and his own players about the incident.
"I don't know if this was something that you could prepare for," Lowe said. "We've talked to the student-athletes about being responsible, about doing things the right way. I've always coached players to be aggressive and play as hard as they can. I've never encouraged or told them the cheap or dirty plays or in any way how to hurt someone ... I think we play really hard and a lot of coaches have complimented us after games about how hard we play."
-- Chhun Sun
A third individual -- an ineligible player from the East bench -- was also involved in the melee.
Lowe was unavailable for comment because he and his Leopards were playing a game against Copper Hills Wednesday night. By the time he got back home -- which was around 11 p.m. -- it was past my deadline. But because I got comments from Woods Cross officials -- including coach Todd Street -- I think it's only fair to hear what happened from someone from East High.
First of all, Lowe said the ineligible player who ran onto the court and punched Day -- who was later carried out of the Woods Cross High basketball court on a stretcher Tuesday night -- is not a thug, as some message boards, for example, have suggested.
"The player in question made a poor decision," Lowe said. "He's a great kid. He's done a lot of good things. Very good, very positive things. He's made some real improvements with his life."
Lowe also said he wasn't trying to justify what happened Tuesday night, adding that he sat down and talked with Vargas about his actions.
"What he did was wrong," Lowe continued. "We talked about using it as a lesson. We gotta make better decisions. We gotta make the best decisions for ourselves, our teammates and everybody involved."
Lowe said that after Vargas carries out his suspension, the coach and his staff will consider additional punishment. Lowe also said he had long talks with Street, the East and Woods Cross administration and his own players about the incident.
"I don't know if this was something that you could prepare for," Lowe said. "We've talked to the student-athletes about being responsible, about doing things the right way. I've always coached players to be aggressive and play as hard as they can. I've never encouraged or told them the cheap or dirty plays or in any way how to hurt someone ... I think we play really hard and a lot of coaches have complimented us after games about how hard we play."
-- Chhun Sun
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