GHSA fines 3 schools $2,000 apiece for failing to report basketball scores

The Georgia High School Association has fined Upson-Lee, Westside-Augusta and Hephzibah $2,000 apiece for failing to report basketball scores that forced the GHSA to reseed the Class 3A brackets less than a day before the Feb. 24 first-round games.

GHSA executive director Tim Scott said the GHSA took extra time to settle on a fine amount because the infractions and the fallout were unprecedented. The GHSA only last academic year began using the Postseason Rankings Formula math model to help qualify and seed playoff teams in four classifications. The model depends on having results of every game.

The four missing results, which included one loss for each of the three schools, lowered the seeds of Hephzibah and Westside and knocked Upson-Lee out of the boys tournament, replaced by Cairo.

Twelve teams were assigned different opponents, some less than 24 hours before their originally scheduled tipoffs.

“When you have to call a school at 8:30 at night and change who they’re playing the next day, that makes for a tough situation,” Scott said. “Making sure your data entered correctly is important.”

The maximum the GHSA can fine a school is $2,500. Scott said he did not believe the schools withheld scores intentionally to improve their seeding.

“Those athletic directors and coaches at the high schools, they’re busy,” Scott said. “You might be trying to get information from an athletic director, and he’s also coaching the baseball team. It’s not like they’re just sitting there.”