OREM — Principals from Region 7 have determined that Orem High's boys basketball team must forfeit a game it played Jan. 22 against Mountain View because an ineligible player was played inadvertently.
Originally, Orem won the game 64-58. The change now leaves Orem tied with Mountain View for fifth in the league with 3-5 marks, a half game behind Payson for the region's fourth and final playoff spot.
According to Orem officials, grades posted the morning of Jan. 22 showed the player eligible. However, one grade was not accurate and was later changed to a lower grade, which made the player ineligible for the remainder of the season.
Once school officials realized, after the game was played, that a wrong grade had been posted and that the player should not have been eligible, they notified the Utah High School Activities Association. The UHSAA's rules say a team that plays an ineligible player must forfeit the game, but the association allowed Region 7 to decide punishment. The region announced Tuesday that Orem will have to forfeit the game.