It appears that Houston (Texas) Robert Beren Academy got to play its state semifinal basketball game after all.

The Beren Academy basketball team at practice — Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle via AP

According to MyFoxHouston and other sources, the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools agreed to reschedule the team's semifinal against Dallas (Texas) Covenant Academy, which had also offered to reschedule the game with officials from the organization.

The decision to reschedule the semifinal (originally set for 9 p.m. Friday) followed the filing of a legal injunction by parents of some of the Beren players. Facing potential legal entanglements, TAPPS Executive Director Edd Burleson said that his organization would obey the restraining order. The game was played Friday at 2 p.m. at Forth Worth (Texas) Nolan Catholic School, with Beren emerging victorious, 58-46, setting up a state final appearance on Saturday at 8 p.m., thus avoiding the conflict of the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

According to YourHoustonNews.com, Zach Yoshor led Beren with 24 points and teammate Isaac Mirwis contributed 12 in the Stars win.

The Times also reported that the lawyers who fought to obtain the restraining order all offered to take the case pro bono to avoid racking up any fees for Beren Academy or families of the students who attend it.

While the legal challenge may have finally forced TAPPS' hand, there was plenty of public pressure to move the game before then. After Beren first forfeited its potential appearance in the game because of its scheduling on the Sabbath the issue gained national attention in outlets like the New York Times, on ESPN's Outside the Lines and here at Prep Rally.

An online petition that was linked to in many of the outlets covering the story -- Prep Rally included -- gained thousands of signatures beseeching TAPPS to move the game so Beren students could observe the Sabbath and still continue their playoff season, which will now culminate in the first state semifinal appearance in program history.

Among the high-profile critics of TAPPS' refusal to bend its official policies was former Knicks and Rockets head coach turned ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, who offered the following scathing critique to the Times.

"I called [TAPPS] because when you're the head of an association like this, the only thing you should worry about is doing right by the kids," Van Gundy said in a phone interview Wednesday. "This decision has nothing to do with the kids. I feel like they made a mistake and they don't have a vice president of common sense who will tell them that this is silly and it's O.K. to change your mind."

In February, Prep Rally brought you the bizarre tale of Joel Bruss, an Apple Valley, Minn. resident who was eventually charged with DUI after he tried to drunkenly run a Zamboni machine at a youth hockey rink. Now, just more than a month later, cell phone video of Bruss' drunken ice cleaning has emerged, and it is pretty incredible.

The video you see above was captured by 12-year-old Apple Valley pee wee hockey player Cullen Beck, and later submitted to Minneapolis NBC affiliate KARE. In the clip, Beck provides some of the best commentary Prep Rally has heard in any setting all year while watching Bruss inefficiently cover parts of the rink's ice.

Among Beck's gems:

"Look at him miss that. You're serious. He doesn't even notice."

"Are you kidding me? We're supposed to go on that?"

"I hope he realizes that he sucks. He hasn't even gotten the sides yet."

And, the coup de grace:

"This is the last lap. Oh, now he's gonna fix it, huh? Oh, good job. What kind of turn is that?"

As Rick Chandler of Off the Bench wrote, that is priceless.

A youth basketball coach and referee have both been banned from ever setting foot on the campus of a Nashville area Catholic school after an ugly incident that occurred during a basketball game between teams of players in the second grade.

Pope John Paul II High School — Nashville Real Estate Authority

As reported by the Nashville Tennessean and the Associated Press, William "Dewayne" Dean, the coach of a second grade-aged boys basketball team, became embroiled in a heated argument with the game's referee, Ronnie Helton, during his team's game at Hendersonville (Tenn.) Pope John Paul II High, which is pictured above. After a series of arguments, Helton -- who is an area middle school teacher -- issued Dean with two technical fouls, kicking him out of the game in the process.

What happened next was clearly completely uncalled for at any level. Dean was asked to leave the arena, at which point he made a move for the referee and grabbed him. Helton then pushed Dean away and took a full swing, punching him in the face.

Shortly after the incident both Dean's wife and Helton went to the Hendersonville police to issue separate statements about the incident. Hendersonville officials told both parties that they could press charges, with both indicating that they planned to.

Meanwhile, officials from Pope John Paul II High, which administers the Youth Play league for which the game was being played, expressed absolute disgust at all parties involved in the incident, acting swiftly to ban both men from the school gymnasium in the future.

The Broadneck (Md.) High girls swimming team received national attention when it was stripped of a county swimming title after one of its swimmers was disqualified for illegally shaving at the meet. Now, after watching the story receive attention here on Prep Rally and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Broadneck coach Colleen Winans-Parr has stepped forward to clear up any misconceptions and officially take the blame for her team's misfortune.

Broadneck girls swimming coach Colleen Winans-Parr — BroadneckAthletics.org

As first reported by the Annapolis Capital's Mike Peters, Winans-Parr gregariously took full responsibility for her team's disqualification after one of her swimmers was caught shaving an armpit at the meet by an opponent. Because the shave didn't involve removing body hair on the swimmer's legs or another body part traditionally targeted for streamlining, Winans-Parr assumed that the in-meet shave would blow over.

It didn't, and Broadneck was penalized as a result.

"It was a vanity shave," Winans-Parr told the Capital. "It wasn't done for an advantage purpose. But it's my fault because I never told them about shaving. No one will ever wear a pearl necklace in the pool because I told them about jewelry."

The coach said that she was first told of her swimmer's shave by an opposing coach who had been informed by one their own swimmers. She then confirmed the story with her own swimmer before the relay event for which the Broadneck team would eventually be disqualified.

Yet, instead of replacing the swimmer, Winans-Parr let the swimmer in question compete in the event, confident that she wouldn't be penalized.

"I went with my gut because she said, 'Why?' ... It's a rule, and I broke it and I turned myself in. It was not the swimmer's fault."

There have been plenty of late-game heroics so far in the opening stages of state basketball playoffs across the nation, but few have been more impressive than the shot you see below.

As first noted by Lost Lettermen -- and originally filmed and posted by Hoosier Happenings -- the player drilling the bouncy full-court bucket you see above is Basil Smotherman, a Lawrence (Ind.) North High junior who has committed to play for Purdue. Smotherman (can we give him some kind of an award for best name in Indiana high school hoops while we're at it?) hit the shot after collecting a defensive rebound with only seconds remaining in a quarter.

With no other options readily available, Smotherman threw up a shot and then got the luckiest series of bounces we've ever seen. Moments later, he and his teammates were celebrating a key bucket in a tight game.

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In fact, that three got even more important by game's end, when Lawrence North pulled out a 63-60 victory on Senior Night. That's right, a court-length miracle three proved to be the difference on Senior Night at one of Indiana's more storied programs; Lawrence North has hosted the likes of Greg Oden and Mike Conley, after all.

A girls hockey playoff game in Massachusetts took an ugly turn, when a fan in the stands was caught shining a laser pointer in the eyes of the opposing team's goalie with the game tied 1-1 in the third period.

As multiple outlets throughout Massachusetts reported, Medway-Ashland (Mass.) High and Winthrop (Mass.) High were in the middle of a hotly contested game when an estranged relative of one of the Winthrop players began using a laser pointer to distract Medway-Ashland's players, including the goalie.

As Medway-Ashland head coach Kurt Carter told the MetroWest Daily News, the fan started using the laser pointer when Winthrop went down 1-0 in the game. But it wasn't until after Winthrop tied the game 1-1 that others in the stands started to realize what was going on.

An assistant football coach at Winthrop was the first to notice the laser pointer shining off the boards. As the coach and Winthrop Athletic Director Peter Gobiel started to make their way to the other side of the rink, they saw a Medway-Ashland fan stand up and yell at the laser-pointing Winthrop fan.

School officials immediately removed the individual and confirmed after the game that the he would be barred from all sporting events in the future.

While Medway-Ashland fans applauded Winthrop for removing the fan, Medway-Ashland head coach Kurt Carter wondered aloud if the laser pointer had affected his goalie late in the game.

"I certainly don't want to sound like sour grapes," he said. "Did it directly impact the goal? I don't know. There is no question it distracted our girls."

The family of a high school girls basketball star who was forced to transfer to an elite private school in Connecticut after being pushed out of her local high school by bullying is suing her former coach and the school district for an astounding fee of more than half a million dollars, citing significant mental and physical health costs associated with the bullying she faced and the sky-high tuition cost for the private school at which she landed.

As reported by CBSChicago and the Southtown Star, among other outlets (it was originally brought to Prep Rally's attention by the folks at Larry Brown Sports), the family of former Orchard Park (Ill.) Carl Sandberg High girls basketball star Kathleen Mulvey decided to sue Consolidated School District 230 and their Mulvey's former coach at Sandberg after their daughter transferred to a new school before her senior year. They claim New Milford (Conn.) Canterbury School to which she transferred was the only institution that would accept a senior transfer, leading to $50,000 of the funds they are now asking for from Mulvey's former coach and the school district.

The Mulvey family's allegations of bullying are serious and significant. The most striking incident occurred during a practice, when the Mulveys claim their daughter was intentionally pushed from behind while she went up for a layup. An awkward landing from that incident tore a tendon in her foot and required surgery and physical therapy for two months, sidelining a player who averaged 15 points and 4 assists per game as a sophomore and has been picked to represent the U.S. in the Summer 2012 World Games.

"As Kathleen writhed in pain, the girl stood over and glared at her, never offering any assistance," the lawsuit claims, according to the Star.

As a result of the injury, the younger Mulvey became depressed and eventually was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder related to the bullying she absorbed during her first three years at Sandberg.

According to the Mulveys' suit, that bullying continued only because of consistent apathy from the Orchard Park school district and their daughter's former coach in particular.

Deion Sanders has made millions of dollars playing football and delivering his own insight on the sport he loves. Now he's giving back to one of the communities in which he starred, which he still calls home.

NFL Hall of Fame defensive back Deion Sanders — Getty Images

As reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Prime Time is investing in and starting two tuition-free charter schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The schools, called Prime Prep Academy, will open campuses in Dallas and Fort Worth and will open in fall 2012 for students in kindergarten through fifth grade in Fort Worth and sixth through 12th grade in Dallas. In the meantime, Prime Prep already has a website and Twitter account up and running, touting its future goals.

Sanders is launching the schools in conjunction with his business partner, D.L. Wallace, a former entrepreneur who earned enough as a young businessman to chase a life of charitable pursuits. In addition to his work with Sanders in starting Prime Prep Academy, Wallace serves on the board of the University of North Texas and founded the Summer Feeding Initiative, which helps feed children in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who would otherwise go without meals while out of school during the summer months.

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Together, Sanders and Wallace have put together ambitious goals for the first-year school. The duo plan to hire some 100 teachers and will offer a 1-to-1 student to laptop ratio. That impressive computer quota is part of a technology-centric curriculum (Sanders told the Star-Telegram that the schools will also employ the VSSCHOOLZ eLearning Solutions model, which allows the school to create and administer its own customizable online curriculum), which Wallace and Sanders hope will help inner-city students be more prepared for working with ever-evolving technology in modern society.

For his part, Sanders sounded confident that his forthcoming schools would be at least as important a part of his legacy as his playing career.