In one of the ugliest scenes from college basketball in recent memory, Saturday's cross-town rivalry game between Xavier and Cincinnati had to be stopped with under 10 seconds left when a bench clearing brawl broke out between the teams.
Xavier guard Tu Holloway scored the final basket of the game with 18.6 seconds left to give them a 76-53 lead over Cincinnati. On the way back down the court on defense, he gave some trash talk to Cincinnati guard Ge'Lawn Guyn. Guyn got into Holloway's face and as they were jawing at each other, Xavier's Dez Wells pushed Guyn to the floor, starting the brawl and leading both benches to clear.
The worst part of the brawl involved Cincinnati senior forward Yancy Gates sucker-punching Kenny Freaze in the side of the head, knocking him down. Then, while down on the ground and trying to get away from the scrum, Freaze gets kicked by Cincinnati center Cheikh Mbodj. Freaze ended up with a bloody eye that was attended to by Xavier medical staff.
Players were separated but it took some time for the teams to clear the court.
Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin is taking the matter extremely seriously:
Video via ESPN.
Penalties pending after Cincinnati brawl [ESPN]
Xavier guard Tu Holloway scored the final basket of the game with 18.6 seconds left to give them a 76-53 lead over Cincinnati. On the way back down the court on defense, he gave some trash talk to Cincinnati guard Ge'Lawn Guyn. Guyn got into Holloway's face and as they were jawing at each other, Xavier's Dez Wells pushed Guyn to the floor, starting the brawl and leading both benches to clear.
The worst part of the brawl involved Cincinnati senior forward Yancy Gates sucker-punching Kenny Freaze in the side of the head, knocking him down. Then, while down on the ground and trying to get away from the scrum, Freaze gets kicked by Cincinnati center Cheikh Mbodj. Freaze ended up with a bloody eye that was attended to by Xavier medical staff.
Players were separated but it took some time for the teams to clear the court.
Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin is taking the matter extremely seriously:
"If my players don't act the right way, they will never play another game at Cincinnati...I'm going to decide who's on the team going forward...I've never been this embarrassed. I'm hoping [Cincinnati University] President Williams doesn't ask me to resign after that...I made everybody take their jersey off, and they will not put it on again until they have a full understanding of where they go to school, and what the university stands for and how lucky they are to even be there, let alone have a scholarship."A lot of people will be looking at this, and the punishments could be extremely severe.
Video via ESPN.
Penalties pending after Cincinnati brawl [ESPN]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
