Sixty students disappointed basketball event at Oracle canceled

OAKLAND, Calif. - Sixty high school basketball players from around the state say they're disappointed and upset after they thought they would be playing at Oracle Arena on Sunday: The billboard outside the Oakland arena had a message welcoming the state All-Stars to a tournament.

But when they pulled into the parking lot, security told them the event, sponsored by the Hilltoppers Academy, which raises money to help get kids into college, was canceled.

“Now I just feel like everything I did is just let down,” said Ronnae ross-Byrd, a teen basketball player. “Because all this hard work I put in to be ready, all the weightlifting, and everything, it's like now what is it for, because I didn't get to play.”

The Warriors said the event was canceled last week when they found out tickets had been sold for people to come watch the event. The Warriors released a statement saying, "this sort of public event would require rental of Oracle arena from the arena manager AEG and payment to AEG of applicable fees". 

The Warriors and the Hilltoppers say they want to work out something for the teens involved. 

Event organizers say want to get to the bottom of what happened here as soon as possible- they're already planning for a tournament in June- and don't want today's cancellation to undermine anyone's confidence and give players and their families reason to doubt that event will go as planned.