The pain was clearly visible on the face of Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball coach John Fisher on Monday night.

It should have been a happy time. Fisher should have been smiling, celebrating a huge 50-39 win over Nashua North.

The Cardinals had rallied. They were down five points heading into the final quarter and looking for some offense and a way to stop sensational North player Trevor Labrecque.

Plus, it was a fantastic game. Fun to watch, and you can bet fun to play in. Fisher should have been smiling ear to ear.

Instead, he was doing an interview he was probably dreading, having to talk more about the ugly incident moments after the final buzzer in which one of his players, Ben Mullett, took a couple of swings at a North player and it ignited a melee in which even adults stormed the court. Thankfully order was fairly quickly restored but not before a lasting image was left.

Now, looking at the tape, it appeared that something was said to someone that prompted the push/slaps/punches but who knows for sure? It looked like someone in a white jersey somehow drew the wrath of Mullett, who received an official ejection from a game that already had ended and likely will be sitting for awhile. North’s Derek Finlay was so irate/upset he had to be physically restrained/guided by an assistant coach out of the gym. Finlay and teammate Jayden Montgomery were issued technicals for unsportsmanlike conduct but not “ejected”. The referees said they would watch video in the next day or so before filing an official report.

But who did what, who was to blame, who said or did what, really this space doesn’t care. That’s for coaches, officials, etc. to determine. What we care about is it happened in the first place to ruin what had been a great, intense, competitive night of basketball.

“It totally shocked me,” Fisher said. “I was not ready for that at all. Most of our guys know those guys. Coach Lane is a close personal friend of mine. I probably know half that (North) team’s parents.

“There’s no excuse for this. This is about having fun, playing a game we all know and love. We’ll absolutely take care of this.”

Fisher and Lane both had genuine, concerned comments afterward, and were thoroughly professional in addressing the issue with yours truly. Two fine people and coaches who were trying to get a handle on the whole thing that they had no inkling would happen.

Usually in a high school game, especially one between rivals, there’s a hint during a game. A brief skirmish here, a nudge there, etc. that will be a red flag to coaches to instruct their players to exit stage left as quickly as possible when the final horn sounds.

Not this time. Nothing.

“I didn’t see anything,” Fisher said. “Totally the opposite. I saw our guys shooting the breeze when shooting foul shots with guys, or at half court. Most of these guys are our friends.”

You can bet there was some talk on Tuesday between officials from both schools. It certainly wasn’t great to see adults get involved by leaving the stands and going on the floor, and evidently there some adults sniping at each other in the lobby outside the gym afterward. Sad.

Imagine what would have happened had there not been fan restrictions due to the pandemic?

The two teams won’t play each other again this season, unless – as they did a year ago – they meet in the Division I tournament. If, given all the conditions of this never-ending pandemic, we get that far.

What happened Monday night is every coach and administrator’s fear and nightmare. Let’s hope we never see it again.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.