A high school playoff basketball game quickly became an emergency room Friday night, and a local coach is lucky to be alive.

“It’s like the intensity of the game and all that just totally dissipated,” said Ricky Perry, president of Goodpasture Christian School.

Goodpasture and David Lipscomb High School are bitter rivals on the court and field. On Friday night, the girls basketball teams were playing at Lipscomb to stay alive in the playoffs. All of a sudden, Lady Cougar head coach Joey Spann was fighting for his life.

“Then I looked to the scorers table, and I saw Coach Spann standing there, and he went tight and then fell,” said Paige Neely, Goodpasture senior.Just before starting the second half, Spann had a heart attack. Fans from both teams were instantly at his side.

“These people just rushed out, nurses, trainers … people that have been associated with our school and Lipscomb for years,” said Perry.

“Immediately, he had a thready pulse, but then it went away,” said Andrea Honeycutt, teacher and nurse. “He was breathing at first, but then that stopped.””I was scared. I just looked at my mom and started crying,” Neely said.

As nurses and doctors tried to save Spann, both teams were taken to the locker rooms.

“We were just down there hugging each other and crying together and praying, and the Lipscomb coach came in, and the Lipscomb players came in, and they held our hands and prayed with us,” said Neely.

Lipscomb had a defibrillator on site, and it jump-started Spann’s heart again. He was taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center, had quadruple bypass surgery Saturday and is recovering in critical care.

His team finished the game against their rival Sunday, but lost. Their season is done.”There’s much more important things than basketball,” said Neely. “There’s much more important things than a game, if you win or lose. We went and saw him after the game, and he didn’t care about the game; he said that he was proud of us.”

“God’s not done with Joey just yet,” said Honeycutt.Fans watched the two teams finish the playoff game Sunday also donated $2,300 to help with Spann’s medical expenses.