Fight Stops Kearny-UC Game

A fourth-quarter fight marred Friday night’s City Western League boys’ basketball game between Kearny and University City, coaches for the two teams said.

“We had an all-out riot,” University City Coach Tom Medigovich said. “It was nasty.”

Second-ranked Kearny, the host, was leading, 61-43, when Kearny’s Steve Marshall and UC’s Vernon Warren tangled with 6:09 left. Fans from both schools emptied onto the court.

Medigovich said school police intervened. “They decided the game shouldn’t continue,” he said.

Said Kearny Coach Bill Peterson: “Both teams cleared the floor and went to the locker rooms until things calmed down. I then went back onto the floor, and I was told UC had left.”

The incident probably will wind up in Section Commissioner Kendall Webb’s hands, Peterson said.