A basketball coach and father of one of Minnesota's all-time great girls players was sentenced to six months in the Hennepin County workhouse and probation for firing a gun at another player's dad in Minneapolis, despite the prosecution's request for a longer sentence in prison.

Paul Hill, 45, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault last week for the September 2011 incident outside the YWCA at 2121 E. Lake St. No one was injured in the confrontation.

On Wednesday, District Judge Daniel Moreno sentenced Hill to three years in prison, but stayed the sentence for five years. If Hill does not violate the terms of his probation, he will serve no prison time and his felony conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor.

According to the county attorney's office, the sentence is far less than called for by the Minnesota sentencing guidelines. However, because Hill has no criminal record, Moreno issued the more lenient sentence. Assistant County Attorney Dan Allard told Moreno that the sentencing guidelines take into account Hill's clean record and there is no reason to deviate from them.

On Sept. 29, Hill and parent Patrick Adams got into a short argument and shoving match at the YWCA. Hill then told Adams, "I've got something for you," according to a criminal complaint.

Hill drove away, retrieved a gun, returned, asked Adams' wife where her husband was and then spotted him in the parking lot. Hill drove up and fired a shot from his truck at Adams, prosecutors said. He turned himself in six days later.

During sentencing, Hill admitted that the gun he fired was a .22-caliber handgun, not a starter's pistol, as he told a probation officer during the pre-sentence investigation and as he claimed in court when he was pleading guilty, according to the county attorney.

Hill, a father of seven, is well known in youth basketball circles, particularly in south Minneapolis. A 1985 graduate of South High, Hill lives near the school with his wife. He is the father of Tayler Hill, one of the state's all-time leading high school players at Minneapolis South who now plays for Ohio State.

ABBY SIMONS