BOISE, Idaho (AP) – A school district on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation says two of its best basketball players were wrongfully accused of drinking alcohol and asked to take a breath-analysis test before a game in Clark County earlier this month.

The Shoshone-Bannock School District has filed a complaint with the Idaho High School Activities Association over the Jan. 13 incident at a Dubois high school.

Clark County Sheriff Bart May approached the two student athletes with a Breathalyzer test kit, saying an audience member had reported they smelled of alcohol. Athletic director Lyndon Smith and head basketball coach Lester Stewart intervened, telling May that he would have to first obtain a warrant. The test was not administered.

Smith felt the interrogation of the players, who are Native American, may have been racially motivated, and the Shoshone-Bannock district is considering filing a civil rights complaint, he said Friday.

“I do believe there were racial overtones in the way they went about things,” said Smith, who is Caucasian.

The sheriff vehemently denied the claim, saying he acted appropriately when investigating a report that the teenagers may have been drinking alcohol before the varsity game at Clark County High School.

“It had absolutely nothing to do with race,” May told The Associated Press on Monday.

He also denied that he hoped to give the home team the upper hand with his questioning of the two players, who were the same shooters that led the Shoshone-Bannock team to a 66-52 victory against Clark County during a Dec. 17 matchup.

May's son plays for Clark County, where his brother, Darrin May, also coaches the girls basketball team. May dismissed notions that his ties to the school were a factor in his decision to investigate the alcohol report.

The Shoshone-Bannock players were on the varsity team and not yet dressed in their uniforms when an audience member pointed them out, May said. That person was identified in May's report as county commissioner Bill Fredrickson.

“He said they reeked of alcohol,” said May, who was wearing plain clothes at the time but was armed and identified himself with his badge.

When confronted, the boys denied that they had been drinking, according to the sheriff, who did not smell alcohol on the players. May then went to his office about three blocks away to retrieve his Breathalyzer test, and approached the two boys, who were sitting in the stands.

“I said, `Why we don't just have a little blow on this machine?”' May said. “The next thing I knew, I had the athletic director and the coach in my face telling me this is nothing but a racial deal and we're violating their civil rights.”

May contended that school officials refused to allow the boys to take the test “because they knew the kids were possibly intoxicated.” Smith said that he and the head basketball coach stepped in as a guardian of the two minors.

“If I had any inclination that either of them had been drinking, I would not have stood up for them,” Smith said. “I'm not trying to cover anything up. I'm not trying to hide anything. I'm trying to help a couple of kids who I feel were mistreated.”

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes argued that the sheriff appeared to have had neither reasonable suspicion nor probable cause to impose the breath-analysis test on the students. The school board wants to send a strong message, the tribes said in a statement issued Jan. 20.

“They do not want this upcoming generation of students to experience the same stories of racial discrimination as their parents and grandparents,” the tribes said.

The complaint filed with the Idaho High School Activities Association is being reviewed by a regional board in Idaho Falls. The board will attempt to verify the accuracy of the complaint and interview the parties involved, said Julie Hammons, the assistant director of the organization.

“We would not get involved unless someone disputed the outcome of the investigation,” she said.