Banana-costumed fans raise racial tensions at high school basketball game

Racial tensions between two Pittsburgh-area high schools have boiled over after an incident at a recent boys basketball game.

Witnesses say two people dressed in banana suits at Brentwood High ran up to Monessen High players at the end of the first half of Friday's contest and began making monkey sounds.

Others say Brentwood players and parents joined in, calling the Monessen players "monkeys" and "cotton pickers."

According to a reporter at the game, a security officer didn't try to stop them.

Brentwood district superintendent Ronald Dufalla had a different view of the incident. On Tuesday, he released a statement to Pittsburgh TV stations saying it was "dealt with when it occurred. I think it was addressed quickly and handled well."

"District officials and security were present at the basketball game," the statement said. "These officials did not hear any racist or similarly derogatory remarks made towards Monessen players or their fans."

In a statement released Wednesday, Dufalla said two costumed Brentwood students were thrown out after "causing agitation and disruption. A third student "was removed to avoid a potential problem" that Dufalla wouldn't specify.

Dufalla said he has reviewed game tapes and talked to school officials, and has "seen no other activity that confirms the allegations made." The two students in banana suits, he said, have done that at previous games "without incident."

In an email Wednesday to The Associated Press, Dufalla said: "The high school students are emulating college students they have seen on television who wear costumes during the collegiate contests. No high school team, Monessen or otherwise, or their fans are being singled out. This is just something the students do."

Monessen superintendent Linda Marcolini said she has filed a report to the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, which oversees high school sports in the region.

"Basically, I feel (Dufalla) sugar-coated the situation," Marcolini told The Valley Independent.

Monessen won the game 59-45.

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