Monday, January 15, 2007

Some People Just Really Don't Get It

              Cincinnati police patrol the Cintas Center during a high school basketball tournament this afternoon. Six arrests were made.

Arrests made at prep tourney

Cincinnati and Xavier police have responded to a disturbance at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day high school basketball tournament at the Cintas Center on the Xavier University campus in Evanston.

Cincinnati Police said six people have been arrested. No one is permitted to enter the arena. People are allowed to leave.

Xavier spokeswoman Kelly Leon said Xavier police have reported there have been several fights inside the Cintas Center.

There are six teams in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Classic. Clark Montessori played Shroder Padeia at 1 p.m., followed by Hughes and North College Hill at 3 p.m., and Withrow versus Winton Woods at 5 p.m.

The tournament has been held at Xavier for several years, said Xavier spokeswoman Deborah Del Valle.

There was apparently a problem with crowd control on the upper concourse during the North College Hill-Hughes game, the second of three boys' basketball games.

Some spectators would not take their seats, and public address announcer Jamal Walker made an announcement:

"Please come in and take your seats ... Please come in and take your seats."

The game itself was not interrupted, and Hughes went on to win 68-54.

There was another briefly chaotic scene on the court when entertainer Sammie performed between the second and third games of the day at center court.

A few minutes into Sammie's act, numerous young girls rushed onto the court and right at the singer. Police officers and security people charged onto the floor and pushed the girls back, but the youngsters still ringed the lower deck and screamed the singer's name.

Nearly 10 policemen and/or secureity officers ringed the singer as he continued to perform.

It was not immediately clear what happened on the upper concourse earlier, but there were reports of several police cars arriving at the Cintas Center.

"They had to close the concourse up there, I'm not sure why," said Dave Dierker, Cincinnati Public Schools athletic director. "I'm just getting bits and pieces of it ... I'm not a security person."

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