For the CI boys’ basketball team, it is simply known as “The Game.” Everyone else who saw it will remember it as, basically, history.

On Jan. 8, CI defeated Grace Brethren of Simi Valley, 55-54. The clock read 0.0 on the scoreboard the Raider crowd went crazy, everyone cheering. But the game wasn’t over.

During the postgame celebration, the referees called a technical on CI for bad sportsmanship, giving Grace Brethren a free throw and a chance to tie. When Raiders began to protest – BANG – another technical was called, this one giving Grace Brethren two more free throws.

Grace Brethren sent a player to the free throw line with the game technically over and no time left on the clock. The first free throw was missed and the Raider crowd cheered. The second was made, so now the game was tied. A miss on the last free throw would send the game to overtime. Instead, the player calmly sank the shot, giving Grace Brethren an unexpected 56-55 victory.

CI coach Mr. Eddie Ramos said he had never seen such a thing in 15 years of coaching. He added that there is a rule that states that if the referees are still on the basketball court that they can still make a call.

Afterward, Coach Ramos called a team meeting where the players agreed that they have to be aware of their actions.

“There was no punishment towards the players that caused this,” Coach Ramos said. “Losing the game was their punishment.”

Ramos said it was fair what the referees did because of the rule that backs it up, but he wishes they would have handled it differently.

“I think that they should have just came to me and talked to me about controlling my players, not having to go to the extreme and take the boys win,” he said. “They took the victory from a team that clearly should have won.”

Mr. Brad Bowman, a longtime coach and teacher at CI, was at the game, and he said that he had never seen anything like this before.

“I don’t think this was fair for the boys,” Bowman said. “I think that (the referees) should have just punished them for the next game or something.”

He added that the CI players learned that next time they should go and shake hands or high five with the other team.  “Handle your wins with class,” Mr. Bowman said.