NOTEPAD: Fan rushes court during Central game at East Laurens; Risper hired at Macon County

A fan rushed the court after a brawl broke out at the end of a heated region game between the Central and East Laurens girls basketball teams Tuesday night in East Dublin.

The tiff started with about 8 seconds left in the contest, a video clip on NFHS Network shows. Central trailed East Laurens 41-38 and was inbounding the ball after the Falcons shot free throws. The Chargers took the ball up the floor and made it past half court before a few East Laurens players cornered Central’s ball handler.

The refs blew the whistle as a Falcon and Charger got tied up with about three seconds left, video shows. The East Laurens player then appeared to shove the Central player with the ball, which sparked both teams to rush toward the sideline near the scorer’s table where the tie-up began.

The most intense part of the fight occurred when an East Laurens fan in a yellow hoodie appeared to come onto the court from the crowd, enter the fray and run into a Central player while throwing punches. Each sideline dispersed from there as players held back teammates while refs, security guards and others tried to restore order.

It was unclear Thursday whether players would be suspended ahead of next week’s Region 2-A Division I tournament.

“We’re in the process of getting everything together right now. We pray that GHSA takes swift action and that they’re able to fairly evaluate and consider all of the circumstances reviewing the game, so they can make a fair ruling for both teams prior to the region tournament,” Central head coach Tamara Bolston-Williams told The Melody Thursday.

Though the refs blew their whistles when the tie-up started, there was never a specific foul called, and the game ended after the ensuing chaos.

“My mindset, I don’t ever believe at looking at any situation from the end. … I always like to look at it from the beginning. I feel like there were many missed opportunities on our end and on the officiating end in which we should’ve been provided with many opportunities to be on the line. That in particular, yes, because that was the dramatic ending,” Williams said.

The game was a crucial one for East Laurens. The Falcons are tied for first in the region standings with Washington County, and the winner gets to host the semifinals and finals of next week’s region tournament. The win over Central kept East Laurens in that first place spot. The Chargers were attempting to tie the game when the tie up occurred.

The brief brawl comes just after the Northeast and Southwest boys got into a scuffle in a game on Feb. 6 with about five minutes remaining. The disagreement began after a tie-up underneath the Northeast basket and escalated when a Southwest player and Northeast player bumped into each other near the bench and a Southwest player appeared to throw a punch.

Southwest had three players — Jamarcus West, Jonathan Hurley and Amari Sparks — suspended for two games, Patriots head coach Monquencio Hardnett said.

“Obviously we’re playing an emotional game, theses things happen, but you hate when it happens. My biggest concern is when fans are getting on the court and getting involved in these things,” Hardnett said.

The Patriots won the game 63-49 after it was called following the fight. The fracas between the two teams comes after the rivals were put on probation because of a brief altercation that ended their football game in October.

Risper hired as Macon County head coach

Longtime Westside head coach Sheddrick “Spoon” Risper was announced Thursday as the new head coach at Macon County High School in Montezuma, according to a press release from the high school.

Risper was the head coach at Westside for 17 seasons and accrued an all-time record of 119-72. He surpassed former Central coach Tom Simonton in 2024 as the coach with the most wins in Bibb County public school history.

Risper announced prior to the 2025 football season that it would be his last with the school. The Seminoles went 3-8 and missed the playoffs for only the second time under Risper.

Macon County is a traditional playoff contender in Georgia, making the state tournament in every season since 2011. The Bulldogs have won 16 region championships and taken home the state trophy twice, including in 2016 under coach Dexter Copeland, who ran the program until 2023. Kurt Williams was the coach for Macon County in 2024 and 2025.

James Harris was announced last month as Risper’s successor at Westside.

Region tournaments nearly set

As Macon private schools wrap up their region tournaments this week, the GHSA tournament details are finalizing ahead of next week’s action.

Region 2-A Division I, which features four Macon schools in Central, ACE, Southwest and Northeast, will begin Monday with the girls seeding serving as the basis for host schools.

The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds for boys and girls both get the first three rounds of the region tournament off and will not have to play until the semifinals. The No. 3 and No. 4 teams get the first two rounds off, while Nos. 5 and 6 get to skip the first round Monday. The No. 7, No. 8, No. 9 and No. 10 teams in the standings play in the first round.

The first three rounds on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be hosted at the higher-seeded girl’s team, including the boys games. For the semifinals Thursday and the region title game Friday, the No. 1 girl’s team will host all games.

East Laurens is still tied with Washington County for the No. 1 seed for the girls after defeating Central on Tuesday. The final seeding won’t be known until Friday, when Washington County plays on the road at ACE while the Falcons travel to Northeast.

Central is the highest-ranked Macon girls team in the region at third. They would get a double-bye if the current standings held. ACE, which is currently in fourth, would also get the first two rounds off followed by a home game.

Region 2-2A and Region 4-3A, which also contain Macon schools, have not announced their region tournament formats or locations as of Thursday.