St. Louis may have defeated VCU handily, 88-75, but a bench-clearing brawl between both teams as the game ended with 1.1 left on the clock is grabbing more headlines. Players from both teams were seen fighting one another as coaching staff and officials tried to keep players away from one another, as tempers flared and punches were thrown.
The Billikens managed to hold onto their Top 25 spot, going to No. 18, but it was the brawl that had robbed that achievement. The fight reportedly began when St. Louis guard Quentin Jones tried to dribble out the clock as the Billikens were leading by 19 points.
However, VCU player Nyk Lewis did not let this happen by taking a few steps to go throw a half-court shot. This soon had St. Louis star Robbie Avila bumping Lewis out of bounds, with this resulting in Avila being called for a foul. However, Lewis’ teammate, Barry Evans, then shoved Jones, resulting in the brawl that cleared both benches.
After the brawl, Evans and Jones were ejected with flagrant 2 fouls, along with all the players who left the benches to participate in the brawl. This left VCU with just four players, but Lewis was able to hit all three free throws, making that lead a little bit smaller. St. Louis still won, though both teams may be getting some repercussions.
VCU and St. Louis Head Coaches Address the Brawl
This is now the second straight brawl between VCU and St. Louis, with another one happening last year. After the game, coaches from both teams addressed the situation but downplayed it:
“I think there’s certainly a healthy intensity, as there should be at the top of the league, right? We’ve got a lot of respect for them. I think they have some respect for us, I assume,” said VCU head coach Phil Martelli Jr. “It’s 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 an emotional game.”
Meanwhile, Saint Louis head coach Josh Schertz stated that this incident would likely be blown out of proportion.
“Guy stole the ball, and went to go shoot it and Rob fouled him, then their guy two-hand shoved Rob in the back and our guy came in and stood up for his teammate,” he said.
St. Louis still leads the Atlantic 10 at 13-1, while VCU falls to 12-3.
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