Bowman still fighting Marrero's suspension

Bowman Academy coach Marvin Rea is still crying foul about a ruling that suspended star player DeJuan Marrero from Saturday's Class A Triton Regional on Saturday.

Marrero was suspended after he received two technical fouls -- one for slapping the backboard and another for hanging on the rim -- in the morning contest against Caston. Bowman lost to Triton by two points in the champioship.

Rea contends that neither technical was unsportsmanlike and that Marrero should've just been kicked out of the Caston game after the second one occurred.

An officials report written by Jeff Nix, a member of the Lake County Officials Association, said that neither Rea nor Marrero were "unsportsmanlike at any time."

Rea cites two instances where players were allowed to return for the next game when they had two technicals called against them.

One came earlier this month in Chicago when a basketball player was ruled eligible between tournament games after he hung on the rim for his second technical.

Another came in 1998 when Vincent Hart, a West Side player, had two technicals in the last game of the season. He was still allowed to play in the sectionals after the IHSAA?ruled then that one wasn't unsportsmanlike.

IHSAA bylaws don't differentiate between unsportsmanlike technicals and those that aren't unsportsmanlike.

Rule 8-3 says, "Any contestant or coach ejected for an unsportsmanlike act shall be suspended from next interschool contest at that level of competition and all other interschool contests at any level in the interim."

John Goss, a Lake County official, said there is no such thing as an unsportsmanlike technical.

"There isn't a difference between, say a kid cursing and dunking in warm-ups," he said. "They're just technicals."

IHSAA bylaw 8-1 also states that an ejection of a player for unsportsmanlike conduct cannot be protested or appealed.

Rea is threatening to file for an emergency injunction to have the semistate game between Triton and Lafayette Central Catholic postponed.

Rea wonders why Nix used the term "unsportsmanlike" in his report if there was no difference.

"I know the rules," he said.

According to Rea, Nix told him that Marrero could play.

After the game, Triton athletic director called assistant commissioner Phil Gardner for clarification.

Gardner ruled then that Marrero was ineligible.

IHSAA?Commissioner Blake Ress didn't return a phone call for this story and Nix declined to comment.