Nationally ranked Camden pulled from New Jersey state tournament after game-ending brawl
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association was reportedly preparing to ban Camden from the state tournament amid a probe into recruiting tactics during its run to a state title in 2022.
After the Panthers' county championship game ended in a fight before halftime Thursday night, their own school district beat the NJSIAA to the draw.
The Camden School District announced Friday the Panthers and district opponent Eastside are barred from competing in the upcoming New Jersey state tournament after a brawl between the teams broke out late in the second half.
Camden led 30-17 with 4:23 left in the second quarter when senior forward Cornelius Robinson hit Eastside's Titus Bacon with a forearm to the head while setting a screen.
Footage from multiple angles of the incident shows Bacon throwing a punch in retaliation, and a melee broke out shortly thereafter. Wagner is shown chasing after Bacon with his fists raised before he was restrained by a teammate.
“The students involved in the incident from both schools have had a tremendous season and have worked incredibly hard to be successful," Camden superintendent Katrina McCombs said in a statement Friday. "We are not taking away any of the prior successes they have had this year, but we want them to know their actions have consequences."
That marks an unceremonious likely end to the season for the defending NJSIAA Group 2 state champions and an abrupt finish to the prep careers of Camden's five-star Kentucky-bound duo of Aaron Bradshaw and DJ Wagner, who surpassed the 2,000-point career scoring mark with a 40-point outing on senior night on Feb. 9.
First-year Camden head coach Maalik Wayns apologized and took responsibility for the incident in a statement posted to Twitter Friday afternoon.
"In the midst of an intense rivalry between 2 (sic) great schools, emotions got involved, leading to a heated situation which should never have occurred," Wayns said.
In a statement Friday, the NJSIAA welcomed the decision to remove both teams from the state tournament, saying the ruling is consistent with its own rules.
Camden's program was already the subject of a NJSIAA recruiting probe after an NJ.com investigation looked into whether the public school broke rules assembling a state title-winning roster last June.
In January, a Camden County superior court judge delayed Camden's hearing in front of the NJSIAA controversy committee.
Camden, the No. 2 seed, was set to open the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs Tuesday against 15-seeded Lindenwold.
The Panthers won the Group 2 state championship in 2020, its first since 2000 and Eastside — which had its named changed from Woodrow Wilson High School last year — won the Group 3 title, its first since 1985.
The NJSIAA is not among the eight state high school athletic associations that allow teams to compete in out-of-season culminating events like GEICO Nationals or the State Champions Invitational, if invited.
