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NAVAJO MOUNTAIN — A Utah high school basketball player was flown by helicopter to the hospital after collapsing on the bench Friday night.
The game between Pinnacle and Navajo Mountain was called at halftime after the player for Navajo Mountain remained unconscious for 40 minutes.
"We came out of the locker room at halftime and he's laying on the floor by his bench and we kind of sat there for a minute," said Pinnacle coach Andrew Olson. "I realized it was pretty serious, (so) I walked over to see if he was OK."
The player was showing symptoms of illness.
"(Paramedics) tried talking to him and he just passed out laying there. He had a strong pulse, but he wasn't conscious. They said he was responding but didn't have any movement in his hands," the coach said.
Navajo Mountain teacher Gary Rock said that the player was Alex Gishe, a junior, who is one of only nine players on the team.
"Where we live ... is literally 90 miles from the nearest clinic that was open at the time," he said, noting that there were paramedics and an ambulance at the game. "They were concerned enough they did call the helicopter."
As of Saturday morning, Gishe's sister reported to Rock that the teenager had been released from the hospital.
"He is OK," Rock said. "He's at home resting and the prognosis is good."
Rock said this was the second time in a week that a member of Navajo Mountain's basketball team had to be flown to the hospital. At a game last week, a Navajo Mountain player was hit by another player's knee and temporarily lost feeling below the waist.
"It's been quite a week," Rock said. "It is serious. Where we live ... when you have a relatively major medical concern, you're in trouble out there."
Rock said Navajo Mountain basketball coach Garrick Yazzie reported that it's believed Gishe's collapse was caused by pneumonia, but additional tests will be conducted Monday.
