Brawl between No. 18 Saint Louis and VCU leaves Rams with only 4 players on court
No. 18 Saint Louis ended its 88-75 win over VCU on a power play Friday with a wild brawl shortly before time expired.
The fun started with Billikens goalie Quentin Jones trying to dribble down the clock with his team in double figures. VCU’s Nyk Lewis apparently wasn’t happy about that, as he stole the ball, took a few steps and launched a half-court shot, which allowed SLU star Robbie Avila – you may remember from his time at Indiana State – to knock it out of bounds.
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Avila was booked for a foul and also received a hard push to the back from VCU forward Barry Evans, who was then shoved by Jones. Point the benches to the clearing, with 1.1 seconds remaining on the clock.
The chaos angle on the ground:
After a long delay, the officials ejected Evans and Jones with 2 flagrant fouls and also ejected all players who left the bench once the dust started.
That left VCU with just four players. Lewis made all three of his free throws and the game was over.
Oddly enough, this is the second year in a row in which a VCU-Saint Louis game saw a fight break out.
Both sides downplayed the incident after the match, with Avila saying “That’s not who we are” and “there are no bad intentions between anyone, just the emotions of the match.”
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VCU head coach Phil Martelli Jr agrees:
“I think there’s definitely a good intensity, like there should be at the top of the league, right? We have a lot of respect for them. I think they have some respect for us, I guess,” Rams coach Phil Martelli Jr. said. “They’re two tough teams, two very competitive teams, two physical teams. Stuff like that, you wish it didn’t happen but, yeah, it’s an intense game. It’s a game emotional.”
Saint Louis head coach Josh Schertz said the incident would “get blown out of proportion,” then provided his own recap of the incident:
“The guy stole the ball, Rob didn’t take it very kindly, he fouled it, and then this guy didn’t take Rob’s foul very kindly, gave him a two-handed shove in the back. And then our guy pushed this guy away and everyone gathered together and did what basketball fights usually do, which is everyone trying to hold each other back so they don’t have to do anything.”
The win keeps Saint Louis in control of the Atlantic 10. Friday’s game pitted the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the rankings, and improved the Billikens’ conference record to 13-1 while VCU stands at 12-3.
