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Earlier game likely sparked hoops melee

The bleachers empty and two are arrested after a game between Brandon High and Middleton High.

BRANDON - Brandon High School senior Aubrey Brown was concerned about what might happen Tuesday night in the basketball game against Middleton High School.

The last time the teams met on Dec. 6, Brandon beat Middleton 81-35.

Players and fans from both schools agree that was the beginning of a feud that erupted into a brawl Tuesday night, emptying the bleachers at Brandon High. Before it was over, more than a dozen police cruisers arrived and two people were arrested.

"It was just bad sportsmanship on their behalf, because we beat them so bad the last time at their house," Brown, a 6-foot-2 guard for Brandon, said Wednesday, flanked by his teammates.

Tuesday's game ended with Brandon winning again, 76-62. They've won 50 consecutive games against county opponents, a string stretching almost three years. But the team had little time to celebrate.

The traditional hand shake between opponents after the game ignited a melee.

Hillsborough deputies arrested Prince Revere III, 20, of 6908 St. Johns River Drive in Tampa, on charges of disruption of a school function and trespass upon school grounds after notice.

Jail records showed Revere was out of jail on $750 bail, and that he has previous arrests for robbery and grand theft. He is the brother of a Middleton player, according to school officials.

Deputies also arrested Durant High School student Robert Gonzalez Jr., 16, of Valrico, on a charge of disruption of a school function. An unidentified 16-year-old Brandon High student was also suspended, said Mark Hart, Hillsborough school district spokesman.

Neither Revere nor Gonzalez returned messages seeking comment.

Hart said Tuesday's game was close for the first half.

"There was some taunting going on between both sides as the game progressed," Hart said, "particularly during missed shots."

After the final buzzer, Brown said he approached Middleton player Willie Piggott, and Piggott would not shake hands.

Hart said that was the beginning of the brawl. But Middleton High head basketball coach Derek Smith said he isn't sure.

"I don't even know what sparked it," said Smith, who spent Wednesday afternoon with the team, watching film of Tuesday's game.

He said one of Brandon's players who was not in uniform shoved one of his players when both teams were shaking hands after the game.

He said the trouble started at that point, and that his players were not involved.

"I ordered my guys to the locker room," Smith said.