[toussaints]

http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/201...y=nav|head

Friday night's big game in Covington pitting the Holy Cross boys' basketball team against Holmes in a 35th District showdown slipped up on its way to completion inside the Indians' warm and muggy gymnasium.

Holy Cross (13-1), ranked second in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches' poll, was leading the sixth-ranked Bulldogs (11-3) by a score of 15-11 after one quarter when the contest was suspended by officials due to a wet floor. The Indians' Travis Thompson was leading all scorers with eight points.

"This game has been at the top of our season all year, but everybody was slipping all over the place," said Holmes senior Charles Knox. "It's definitely disappointing. We were down by four but we were alright, and now we can't finish."

After several players on both teams lost their footing and fell to the hardwood in the opening eight minutes, referees gathered with Holy Cross athletic director Anne Julian and Holmes AD Stan Steidel before the start of the second quarter and decided to stop play.

"The coaches will talk and we're going to try to reschedule it with the earliest date we both have available," Julian said. "It'll pick up with the start of the second quarter."

Both benches, which were huddling around coaches in preparation for the second quarter as discussions took place at the scorer's table, proceeded to their respective locker rooms as Holy Cross principal Clay Eifert announced to the standing-room-only crowd that the game was suspended.

As the Holy Cross student chanted, "Let them play," Eifert instructed paying attendees to exchange their ticket stubs for vouchers to be used for the game's completion date, which will be announced next week.

Speaking over a round of boos, Eifert told the crowd that game officials became concerned for player safety because of slickness on the floor, then he announced the winning split-the-pot number.

"I came over to the scorer's desk and said who made the call to stop it," said Eifert, who spent most of the first quarter towel-wiping wetness on the floor. "One of the officials looked at me and said, 'I stopped it.' They said they were concerned about safety."

It was the first time in 19 years that a Holy Cross home basketball game was not completed. Indians coach Eric Goetz was a Holy Cross player the last time it happened.

"It's definitely an unusual situation and the game was going our way, but this is because it's 60 degrees out in January," Goetz said. "I was a senior in 1993 and we were playing Covington Catholic and the same thing happened, only worse. After two and a half quarters, somebody opened a door and it allowed air to come in and it caused condensation on the court."

Apparently, that's what happened Friday.

"It was fine during warmups; just a little warm," Holmes coach Jason Booher said. "But when they opened the doors to cool it down, you could tell the floor was getting slick, and that's an easy way to tear an ACL. It's disappointing but safety comes first."

Steidel said it was the right decision. "It's unfortunate because this was a great atmosphere tonight for high school basketball, but we can't have a kid get hurt after we stopped the game several times and then restart it," he said. "We'll complete it as soon as we can."