McKellar Opts to Return to Campbell Hall : Prep basketball: All-State guard who quit last week after being disciplined by coach for taunting rejoins team.

The door remained open and, Tuesday afternoon, Campbell Hall’s Austin McKellar reappeared.

McKellar, a preseason All-State basketball selection in Division V, left the team after practice Friday rather than sit out the first half of Saturday’s game against Delphic League rival Brentwood.

McKellar was to be benched because first-year Coach Jon Palarz believed he had taunted the opposition and behaved in an inappropriate manner in Campbell Hall’s 71-70 loss to Faith Baptist on Thursday.

However, McKellar contacted Palarz on Tuesday and rejoined the team for practice. He will not start Friday’s game against Bel-Air Prep, Palarz said.

“Austin indicated that he wanted to rejoin the team out of the best interests of the school, the team and himself,” Palarz said.

McKellar, a 6-foot senior guard who leads the team with a scoring average of 16.7 points, said Monday that he believed he was being unfairly singled out for punishment.

“(Palarz) told me that I represented the school in a bad way in the type of motivation I used,” McKellar said.

At practice Friday, McKellar said Palarz informed him that he would not play in the first half against Brentwood, and McKellar objected. McKellar said Palarz then asked the rest of the players if they also had exchanged taunts with Faith Baptist players. No one stepped forward.

McKellar, who helped lead the team to its first winning season and to the state playoffs last season, said he felt alienated and announced that he was leaving.

Campbell Hall finished 24-5 last season, advanced to the Southern Section Division V-A final and had all five starters returning. Without McKellar, the Vikings lost to Brentwood, 61-49, and fell to 12-8 overall.

Adding fuel to the mix was McKellar’s on-court acknowledgment of former Campbell Hall Coach Joe Jackson, who attended the Faith Baptist game. Jackson, who was popular with many players, was fired by the school last spring but has attended several Campbell Hall road games. McKellar several times pointed to Jackson on the sidelines after making free throws or baskets.

McKellar said he believed he was being made a scapegoat for a hard-fought loss and said that several players were exchanging unflattering words. He insisted that his comments toward Faith Baptist were not malicious and that he would have been assessed a technical foul by officials if they had been.

“I played my hardest and it was a very emotional game,” McKellar said.

Said Palarz: “Some of the kids like (talking during the game) and see it as a way of being enthusiastic. But you have to be able to know when you’ve crossed the line and are being profane toward the opponent.”