Lorenzo vs. Crosbyton game ends in brawl caught on video

UPDATE, Jan. 27: The UIL District Executive Committee has suspended the Lorenzo and Crosbyton basketball teams for one game after a basketball game Wednesday night ended in a “bench clearing fight” on the court.

Both schools were scheduled to play tonight. Lorenzo was set to play at Borden County and Crosbyton was going to host O’Donnell.

UIL DEC District Chair Todd Newberry said these games will be forfeit and labeled as losses for each team.

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LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - An investigation is expected from both school districts after a fight broke out during a varsity boys’ basketball game between Lorenzo and Crosbyton Wednesday night.

A video of the fight shows a Hornets player in white throwing a punch at a player from Crosbyton. The Chief responds with a punch of his own. That’s when the benches and bleachers cleared.

Officials and coaches fought to regain control, but the damage was done.

The district has already suspended Deion Mitchell, the team’s head coach and athletics director, for the season after allegations that he was recruiting players. Punishment from the UIL is still pending in that case.

After his suspension, a cell phone video provided to KCBD appears to show Coach Mitchell in the front row of a game against O’Donnell giving hand signals to his players.

On Jan. 20, two Lorenzo players went before the Region 17 board to fight for their eligibility, accused of changing schools for athletic purposes.

Travon McCaslin transferred from Tulia where he was a star player. The other player, Coach Mitchell’s own son Jakari Davis, transferred from Shallowater.

Testimony from the families got emotional and heated at times. McCaslin tried to speak, but only tears came out.

Coach Mitchell and his family claimed the meeting and any sanctions against them were racially motivated. Mitchell even stormed out of the meeting at one point.

The board initially ruled McCaslin ineligible to play his senior season, but the board later rescinded their vote, agreeing to send the case to the state committee. The same decision was made for Davis.

We reached out to UIL and both school districts about what happened on the court but got no response as of Thursday night.

Parents close to the situation tell us both schools are punishing the students and parents involved, but the details of those consequences are not known at this time.

NOTE: Crosbyton AD/basketball coach Rocky Winn is the husband of KCBD’s Angie Winn. She did not work on this report.

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