Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson was fined $50,000 for “aggressively pursuing, berating and making inadvertent contact with a game official,” the NBA announced Saturday. 

The league’s announcement said the incident happened with 10:59 left in the fourth quarter of Cleveland’s 126-113 loss to the Phoenix Suns Friday. 

Atkinson was assessed his second technical foul of the game when he stormed the court after a no-call against Sam Merrill for driving on Collin Gillespie after he bumped into an official before being escorted off and ejected from the game. 

Atkinson whipped his arm against the nearby referee before the whistle was blown. 

Atkinson ripped the officials in a postgame news conference. 

PGA TOUR STAR JUSTIN THOMAS RIPS NCAA FOR CURRENT STATE OF COLLEGE SPORTS

“We had one free throw after three quarters against a team that [is 26th in fouls],” Atkinson said. “And the second free throw we got was after a flop. I’m not pleased. I thought the game got out of hand, quite honestly. Parts of the game seemed circus-like, quite honestly. I don’t know if that’s what we want as a league.

“Certain characters in this league take liberties, and we don’t stand up to them. And the game turns into reviews, challenges, go to the monitor for 20 minutes when we’re just trying to play basketball. I don’t think it’s good for the league, and I know it wasn’t good for us tonight. Thought they let the game get out of hand.”

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The Cavaliers fell to 29-21, while Phoenix improved to 30-19. 

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If there were any doubt about this being the year of the freshman in high school basketball, all you needed to do was look at who was on the court Saturday in a sold-out rivalry game between Village Christian and visiting Heritage Christian.

“There were five freshmen out there,” Heritage Christian freshman guard Ty Lazenby said.

Make no mistake about how much young talent Heritage Christian has after a 74-71 victory that ended the Crusaders’ 11-game winning streak.

The Warriors (20-6, 6-2) start two freshmen and three sophomores. In high school sports, you never know who’s staying and going each year, but Heritage Christian is feeling good about its group.

“They had to reenroll by yesterday,” coach Paul Tait said.

Said Lazenby: “We’re figuring it out. In two years we’re going to be very good.”

On Saturday, Eli Simmons had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and fellow sophomore Houston Rolle scored 16 points. Lazenby had 15 points. Another freshman, Nalu Clark, the brother of Virginia NCAA champion guard Kihei Clark, had seven points and seven assists.

It was left to sophomore Tyler Jackson to put the finishing touch on the win, banking in a free throw with 11.9 seconds left for a three-point cushion that forced Village Christian’s outstanding freshman, Will Conroy Jr., to shoot a three to tie. It didn’t go.

Conroy finished with 28 points. The Crusaders got into trouble when they failed to get the ball to Conroy earlier, resulting in a turnover and forcing them to foul Jackson.

Village Christian still can win the Olympic League title outright with a win over Maranatha next week. Heritage Christian is rooting for Maranatha to produce a three-way tie for first.

Crespi 57, Harvard-Westlake 52: The Celts advanced to a Tuesday night Mission League tournament semifinal at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame by eliminating Harvard-Westlake, which lost for the third time in its last four games. Isaiah Barnes scored 19 points.

Loyola 60, St. Francis 57: Quincy Watson and Deuce Newt each scored 13 points to help the Cubs keep their playoff hopes alive. They advance to play top-seeded Sierra Canyon on Tuesday in a Mission League tournament semifinal.

Girls’ basketball

Ventura 46, Mater Dei 42: Kai Staniland and Emma Anter each scored 13 points in Ventura’s upset of the Monarchs.

Sierra Canyon 73, Oak Park 46: Jerzy Robinson scored 29 points in a matchup of Open Division teams.

Former NASCAR driver Brian Vickers was mentioned in numerous documents in the latest Epstein files dropped Friday.

Vickers’ ex-wife, Sarah Kellen, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in Epstein’s 2008 nonprosecution deal and was later described as “criminally responsible” by a federal judge during Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2022 sentencing.

The most damning implication of Vickers’ apparent relationship with Epstein appears to be an email directly from Vickers to Epstein sent Feb. 14, 2019.

In an email with the subject line, “Thought you would like this,” Vickers sent an attachment with the message, “Happy Valentines Buddy” and a winky-face emoji. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell six months later.

Vickers is also shown to have forwarded an email to Epstein on March 24, 2012, with the subject line, “Male Fairy Tail.” The email’s content is sexually explicit.

Other emails include discussions about potential sponsorships. But one from a redacted sender to Epstein included apparent concern from Michael Waltrip and another business partner stemming from negative stories about Epstein.

Representatives for Vickers and NASCAR did not respond to requests for comment.

NEW GHISLAINE MAXWELL MUGSHOT INCLUDED IN DOJ’S LATEST EPSTEIN FILES RELEASE

Steve Tisch, part-owner of the New York Giants, was listed in the files and appeared to have discussed women with Epstein.

“We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and, in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy and investments. I did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island. As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with,” Tisch said in a statement released Friday night.

The Department of Justice’s Friday release of more than 3 million documents related to the investigation of Epstein included email exchanges from April 2013 and June 2013 between Tisch and the convicted sex offender.

Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan federal jail cell Aug. 10, 2019. His death was later ruled a suicide. 

He faced up to 45 years in prison for crimes related to sex trafficking of minors.

Vickers won three Cup Series races in his career.

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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