COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Linden-McKinley boys basketball team won’t be able to compete in the city leagues boys’ basketball championship game on Saturday.
The team is ineligible to play because they have played 22 regular season games this year, and that is the maximum number of games they can play, per OSHAA policy.
Columbus City Schools Superintendent Angela Chapman sent a letter to the district saying she initiated a thorough investigation to identify the cause of the error.
“Our priority is to understand what went wrong and implement measures to prevent similar mistakes in the future," Chapman said.
Still, some Linden-McKinley families are upset. Londale Towns has two brothers on the basketball team. He said the boys are hurt.
Towns said the boys have done everything right, but still, they can’t play. He said the game is a big deal to the players and something they work for, for a long time.
“The northside is pretty competitive. These kids play AAU together outside school. A lot of these kids go to the same rec center, same churches, same daycare so this is something that has galvanized the community,” said Towns.
Ralph Carter, with We are Linden, knows a lot of the players on the team. He feels they should get to play, since they earned their spot.
“This is their best season yet, only losing one game. They have beat all the city league teams they needed to beat to be able to be here and it's all ripped away,” said Carter.
Other community advocates agree.
“They earned this opportunity," LaQuisa Richardson said. "We need to allow these children to be who they are which is champions."
The season isn’t over for the Linden-McKinley boys basketball team. They have the state tournament on March 2.