A year ago, it was Saint Louis and VCU fans fighting in the stands when the Atlantic 10 rivals met in St. Louis. This time, a foul nearly sparked a brawl between players late in the Billikens’ 88-75 win on Friday at Chaifetz Arena.
In a game where No. 18 Saint Louis trailed by double figures for most of the first half, benches cleared with 1.1 seconds left as the result of a chain-reaction play. VCU’s Nyk Lewis stole the ball from Saint Louis’ Quentin Jones, launched a half-court shot and took a bump from Saint Louis big man Robbie Avila that knocked him out of bounds. VCU’s Barry Evans shoved Avila, Jones shoved Evans and chaos ensued.
No punches appeared to be landed in the fracas. After a lengthy review, officials gave Evans and Jones Flagrant 2 fouls and ejected them, along with all players who left the bench. That left VCU with only four players on the floor to finish things out.
The Atlantic 10 posted a statement on social media Saturday afternoon stating both teams will be fined and reprimanded. The conference did not specify the exact amount of the fines, just that the programs would “be fined according to conference policy.”
“There will be no conference-issued suspensions as the officials adjudicated the incident within the prescribed rules of the game in exemplary fashion,” the A-10 statement read. “This was an unfortunate end to a great college basketball game between two of the best teams in the nation. The A-10 considers the matter closed and looks forward to the remainder of the regular season…”
“There’s no ill intentions between anybody, just the emotions of the game,” Avila told reporters afterward.
“Stuff like that, you wish it didn’t happen, but it’s an intense game,” VCU coach Phil Martelli Jr. told reporters.
Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz said at his news conference that Jones stealing the ball at that point is “frowned upon but not illegal” and added, “It’ll get blown out of proportion but at the end of the day, like, it’s an emotional game, you’re playing a rival. … There wasn’t anything significant. … Everybody just milled around and did what the general basketball fighting is, which is everybody’s trying to get held back so they don’t have to do anything.”