PLYMOUTH, N.C. (WITN) – For the second time this season there has been a brawl at a Washington County High School basketball game where the Panthers players were not involved.

It is a shame because the boys are now 18-1 after last night’s shortened 57-33 win over rival Riverside-Martin.

Video of the fight shows the game ended early. Riverside’s coaches are unable to comment but it shows clearly in the video Riverside kids were involved and ended up hitting a deputy in the head at the game. It also shows Washington County kids stayed on the bench.

WITN spoke with Martin County Schools administration and they shared a statement saying, “We deeply regret the incident that occurred during the Riverside High School vs. Washington County High School boys basketball game on Tuesday, February 7. At this time, school and district officials are gathering information on the incident. Martin County Schools will not discuss student discipline information.”

We reached out to Washington County Sherriff’s office but the chief deputy was unavailable as well.

The Panthers are slated to play Bertie on the road Friday night for their conference title.

Sources say the Knights will be shorthanded after the fight.

This is the second time in just over a month that a fight broke out at a basketball game at Washington County High School.

That last fight happened on January 7th.

Sheriff Johnny Barnes said there were at least two fights between the Washington County High cheerleaders during a girls’ basketball game, with family members getting involved later.

According to the sheriff, a school resource officer was stabbed below the lip with what was believed to be a pen. The officer received a stitch at the hospital for the wound.

The deputy was later identified as deputy Kelly Tate, and she was back on the job just a few days later.

According to the parents of the students involved that we spoke with at the time, they said the cheerleaders had nothing to do with the deputy being stabbed.