New London — As gyms across the Eastern Connecticut Conference gradually open to allow more fans — particularly more students — into games, what occurred Tuesday night at Conway Gym should be viewed as a cautionary tale, given the increasing volatility among all student populations across the region.

St. Bernard-New London, whose passionate rivalry from the 80s reinvented itself, marked the first time this season that, given COVID-related restrictions, an event featured dueling student sections.

The New London kids occupied a section of bleachers across from the Whalers' bench, adjacent to the section of St. Bernard kids, also across from the floor from their team's bench. The bleacher sections were separated by maybe 10 feet.

In the middle of the third quarter, a plastic water bottle was thrown from the New London student section into the St. Bernard student section. Nothing came of it at the time, save perhaps a bit of crowd murmur.

When the game finished, the St. Bernard students did not rush the court, as students often do, but celebrated a big victory from the bleachers. There was a victorious chant or two, but nothing profane or different than what had been uttered all night.

Suddenly, a barrage of water bottles began flying from the New London section. Some had water left in them. One bottle hit a St. Bernard student squarely and harshly in the head, knocking him off balance.

None of the St. Bernard kids retaliated, some tense moments notwithstanding. Public address announcer Ed Weyant helped immeasurably, repeatedly asking all fans to leave the gym calmly and peacefully. They did.

Straight up: I've seen similar incidents escalate in gyms and fields across the region. This one was close. And prompts the question about how to mitigate student behavior at games for the rest of the season.

Yes, this happened at New London. But this is not a New London-centric thing. If you've paid attention recently, you've read stories about disorderly student behavior at many schools throughout the region. If you think your kids are above it, please removeth thy cranium from the beachfront. (Get your head out of the sand.) Teachers tell me frequently some form of author Anne Lamott's great line: "Things are deteriorating faster than we can lower our standards."

So how do we fix this?

Some ideas:

• Student sections cannot be anywhere near each other. Open all the bleachers if required. They are going to chant things and needle each other. It's what they do. Make them do so from opposite sides of the floor or gym. It's hard to throw a bottle of water 100 feet without calling attention to oneself.

• Security personnel must be abundant and easily identified as security personnel. In some gyms, they wear yellow or fluorescent shirts or jackets. They must be visible near all sections, lest we forget it isn't always the students who behave like delinquents.

• The likelihood of at least one police officer in attendance rises in correspondence with higher numbers of fans admitted. I am not interested in anybody's opinion about the police. Your political statements are irrelevant next to the reality that a police presence is a deterrent to unacceptable behavior.

• Enforce the idea of no food or drink is allowed in the gym. That way water bottles don't become projectiles. It means no backpacks are allowed either. I suspect that's how many of the water bottles got into the gym Tuesday.

• Public address announcers should remind spectators that George Orwell is alive and well. Big Brother really is watching. All gyms have cameras now that show the games either on the NFHS Network or the school YouTube channel. My guess is New London officials can see the identities of a few bottle tossers, given that the NFHS Network camera sits at the top of the student section.

You will note that we're about 600 words in here and I have yet to partake of blame assessment for what happened Tuesday night. That's because it is fruitless and useless. Blame begets excuse making and persecution complexes. What we want here is a solution.

I remind the youngins that when you do the dumb things that happened Tuesday, you perpetuate certain perceptions of your school and town that are not fair and certainly don't apply to everyone. But you make it easier for others to think that way.

We've been blessed with a wonderful basketball season thus far. The games will get bigger as the virus wanes. It means more people in more gyms. The passion will increase. And so will the chances for volatility.

Let's not see a repeat of Tuesday night.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro