What You Need To Know

• Pittsfield and Old Rochester played each other Monday night


• A player from ORR spit on PHS player Malachi Perry


• ORR are competing in the state championships


• Pittsfield wants accountability

“It just changed the whole game. My teammates were shocked, I was shocked, my coaching staff was shocked. It just changed the whole game around,” Perry said. “Our egos were low, we got low. It was just a lot to process in the moment, in the heat of that game.”

The student who spit at Perry has been thrown off the team, but Pittsfield players are not happy with how theMassachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) has handled the situation.

“If I would’ve did that, I would’ve been escorted out the game in handcuffs, and for them to just give them a slap in the wrist to just not play the next game, that doesn’t mean anything to me,” Perry said.

The team hasn’t been to the Final Four in about five decades and were excited to be given the chance to make history and show how much hard work has been done.

“I was very excited because this team hasn’t been there since 1973. So we just kept talking about history, and for this to be another aspect of the history is crazy,” said Perry.

In a letter addressed to the MIAA from Pittsfield High School, the principal said coaches, players and fans experienced a barrage of offensive comments during and after the game, leading to the team asking for a police escort out of the gym. But no assistance was given.

“No time to process. Never been in this situation before as a player or coach, and I just really want to make sure my players are safe and calm and build out from there,” said coach Jerome Edgerton Junior.

The coaches and players say they want the MIAA to take the incident more seriously, and Old Rochester’s win and advancement to this weekend’s championship game vacated. 

“I want the board, like the MIAA and stuff, to hear us and to recognize that we won championships, and how do we get no respect at all? We haven’t got respect all season. It’s just at the time when it matters and a situation like this; and this is the highest situation that can ever happen. Why is no one hearing? Why is nobody seeing it? What’s going on? I want answers. That’s all I really want,” Perry said.

The MIAA sent Spectrum News 1 a statement about the incident.

“The MIAA has been made aware of an incident at a boys' basketball tournament game between old Rochester Regional High School and Pittsfield High School. The MIAA continues to serve as a resource to its member schools as they navigate the facts of the matter at the local level.”

Edgerton Junior has been coaching the boys’ team for the past couple years. Win or lose, he says he enjoys using the game of basketball to make a greater impact on his player’s lives, on and off the court. 

“One thing that I think is important, these young men are, yes, they’re great athletes, but they are good brothers and sons and friends, and they’re scholars and they have different aspects and dreams and goals. And it just happens that the basketball court this year, we are a championship-level program, and that’s what drives me even crazier, that that's how we were treated. We are champions and we are not going to settle for that.”