With a well-earned reputation for rough play, basketball games in Latter-day Saint meetinghouses are often referred to as the “the brawl that begins with prayer.”
And in a uniquely Utah ruling, the state’s highest court weighed in on one particular ward game that got out of hand.
The case focused on a knee injury that Judd Nixon suffered during a 2012 church-sponsored game at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stake center in Utah County as he tried to score against another man, Edward Clay. Utah Supreme Court Associate Justice Thomas Lee offered this play-by-play:
“Nixon dribbled the ball down the court to take a shot.