BATON ROUGE - After a melee at a high school basketball game got his team ousted from playoff contention, Liberty High Coach Brandon White is hoping his players can take a life lesson from the experience. 

The Liberty High Patriots were in the final minutes of their match-up with the Zachary High Broncos, both teams state championship hopefuls, when a shoving match between two players turned into an all-out brawl. 

Video posted online showed spectators running onto the court as the fight escalated. The game was canceled that night, and it was learned just days later that the LHSAA had suspended both teams from participating in the postseason tournament. 

On Tuesday, nearly a week after the season-ending fight, Coach White put out a video response calling the incident and the ensuing playoff suspension a "learning experience."

"You want to win but not at any cost, because these are the lives of young people that we're dealing with," White said. "I personally would like to ask the public to give grace to both young men and not be so quick to pass judgment on the situation, especially pertaining to student-athletes [whom] you know nothing about." 

Until Next Time…#ELEVATE pic.twitter.com/TjU4zJrfFI

— Liberty Magnet Basketball (@LibertyMagMBB) February 22, 2023

The coach added that two seniors on the team will not be able to properly finish out their last season, adding that his staff is working with them to "prepare for the next chapter of their lives."