Attorney Frank Cremen speaks with Daman Starring, right, in Family Court Thursday. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

A high school basketball player charged with sexually assaulting a teammate called the hazing incident a "play rape," his coach testified Thursday.

The player, 17-year-old Daman Starring, is charged as a juvenile with sexual assault, battery, and two counts of open and gross lewdness in connection with the Feb. 3 incident at Sierra Vista High School in the southwest valley.

The first day of trial in Family Court featured a full day of witnesses and conflicting testimony about what happened when a handful of players tackled another player inside the school's gym.

Ken Gibson, head varsity basketball coach, said he talked to Starring after hearing about the incident. During the phone conversation, Starring told his coach the players had been messing around and dog piled another player, Gibson testified.

The incident happened after practice, at about 5:45 p.m., when the accuser, a sophomore who had been promoted to varsity a few weeks earlier, was tackled to the ground by teammate Andre Fletcher. At least four other players joined in, grabbing the accuser's arms and legs as he lay on his stomach.

During the dog pile, someone pulled down the accuser's shorts, the accuser said. He testified that Starring squeezed his genitals before sticking a finger in his rectum through his boxer shorts.

"I felt helpless," he said. "I just prayed it was going to be over."

The accuser identified another player who might have penetrated his rectum with a finger.

That player, a senior, said he didn't hold the accuser down or sexually assault him. He also said he heard team co-captain Andre Fletcher say after practice: "I feel like raping someone right now." Fletcher tackled the player to the ground, starting the first dog pile of the evening.

The senior said his buttocks and genitals might have also been touched during that pile. After the dog pile of the accuser, the senior testified he saw Fletcher help him up and say, "Welcome to America. ... You're a man now."

Fletcher, who denied in court making those comments, said the accuser acted like nothing was wrong and even joined in another dog pile moments later.

The accuser, who spoke near-perfect English despite living in America for just eight years, told his mother about the incident on the ride home from practice that day. He begged her not to report it, but she insisted on calling Gibson and police.

"Personally, I just don't like getting people in trouble. It's just not me," he said.

Gibson said he supported whatever decision the family made on how to proceed.

When Las Vegas police officer Joseph Duffy arrived to take a report, he found the accuser on the phone with Assistant Principal Zane Gray. Duffy said he took the phone and Gray asked him if he could wait until the season ended to make the report. Gray also suggested that Duffy ask the family if it would wait to report the incident, he said.

"He said, 'You've played sports. You know what it's like.' I said, 'I don't know what it's like.' He said, 'Boys will be boys,'" Duffy said.

Duffy also testified that a Clark County School District police officer recommended impounding a surveillance video from the gym because of fears the assistant principal might tamper with it.

On the stand, Gray denied making those comments.

"I encouraged them to report it, if that's what they felt they needed to do," he said.

During opening statements, Starring's lawyer, Frank Cremen, said the incident has been exaggerated and the case has gone further than the accuser ever intended.

Cremen is expected to present his side today after the prosecution wraps up its case.